


A's Dolls

by HappyUnicow



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-25 15:07:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 72
Words: 105,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9825839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyUnicow/pseuds/HappyUnicow
Summary: Set after season 5 midseason, A wants to get all her dolls together, so decides to kidnap the girls one by one. Completed.





	1. Chapter 1

Spencer's family were out as normal, that was the problem with her parent's professions, they never had enough time for family. Sighing loudly, Spencer looked through the film collection she owned, until she finally came to a conclusion and started playing it on her laptop. Relaxing back in her bed, she put on her headphones in hope that the film would drown out the storm outside.

Of course, her parents had to be out whenever there was a storm; it was so typical for them. Leaving Spencer all alone to freak out about every noise that creeped in the house, since she had no one to blame the noises for. Picking up her phone, she messaged Aria to see if she wanted to come round to see the film since it was boring to watch it alone.

As she pressed send, thunder cracked over the house, causing Spencer's car alarm to wail away.

"Crap", Spencer sighed removing her headphones from her ears, "Stupid car alarm, can you like not go off in a storm for a change?"

Pausing the film and placing her computer and phone down on her bedside table, Spencer pulled herself out of her warm, comfy bed and headed downstairs. Opening up the draw, where she had thrown her keys for safe keeping, she fumbled around to find them. Once doing so she looked up out of the window, arm raised holding her keys looking into the masked face of A.

Tumbling back, she lost her footing and fell on the floor shocked. She just stared at the dark figure. Letting go of her car keys, that she was gripping so tightly, she rose to her feet and took off scrambling up the stairs, as she could hear the door being smashed open behind her. Rushing into her room, she grabbed her hockey stick that was lying up against the wall and braced herself by the door.

Hearing the loud footsteps climbing up the stairs, Spencer held her breathe. She held the hockey stick ready to attack as she could hear her heartbeat racing so loudly. She inhaled sharply as her doorknob began to turn. The door opened with a large bang as Spencer closed her eyes as she began panicking and whacking the space in front of her. Hearing a moan and a large thud on the floor she opened her eyes and there, lying there was A, seemingly unconscious from the nasty whack to the head with the stick. Bending down Spencer checked for a pulse. It was still there.

"Phew" Spencer exhaled, scared that she might have accidently killed her stalker. Reaching down to pull off the mask, that covered her enemy's face, Spencer didn't notice the figure coming up behind her.

Gasping for air, Spencer grabbed at the cloth that was now crushing her airways. She didn't understand A was on the floor unconscious; there was more than one of them. Adrenaline rushing, she tried to elbow the figure behind her before collapsing to her knees, reaching out, she pulled her tall mirror as it crashed to the floor glass splattering against her carpet. As a last chance of hope, she grabbed one of the large sections of broken glass, cutting her hand -pouring out dark red blood- as she tried to slash out at her attacker.

Failing miserably, she collapsed on the floor, underneath the weight of her attacker. Her eyes blurred as she saw black dots in her vision. Feeling a prick in her arm and a weird liquid rushing through her body, she finally was consumed by the darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Aria's phone buzzed, reaching out to grab it Aria tried not to wake the sleeping Ezra next to her. It had been a brilliant day so far, with Ezra taking her out to Philly to a recently opened photography gallery; and afterwards taking her to a fancy restaurant that was very much out of her normal price range. The two had got soaked from the weather out so as they reached the apartment Aria decided to have a shower to try and warm herself up and to get the smell of rainwater out of her hair. Ezra was exhausted after trying to pull out all the stops to make the day as perfect as possible that he had fallen sound asleep while waiting for Aria to finish showering.

Upon reading the message from Spencer asking about watching a film, Aria looked over to the snoring Ezra.

"Well it doesn't seem like we are doing anything else tonight" She whispered trying not to wake Ezra from his peaceful slumber. Pondering for a second she replied to the message 'Sure be around soon'.

Picking up her sodden clothes from the day out, she sighed. "Well I can't wear these, can I?" She was currently wearing one of Ezra's tops that hung too low for her like it was a dress. Pausing for a moment she remembered that Ezra should have one of her sets of clothing from when she had last been caught out in the rain and left her clothes in the washing machine forgetting to pick them up after.

"Great, where on earth has Ezra put them." She thought to herself. Getting up to rummage through her boyfriend's draws. After several minutes Aria found them folded up neatly next to some of Ezra's clothing. Putting on her clean clothing she wondered to Ezra's desk to find a scrap piece of paper to leave a note for Ezra to thank him for the perfect date out and to say that she had gone over to Spencer's as she didn't want to wake him.

"I'll just leave my wet clothing by the washing machine, Ezra won't mind." Aria thought as she placed the note close to Ezra and headed to the door. Rushing to her car that was parked close by to the apartment, she clicked the button to unlock the door scurrying to get to into the safe dry vehicle.

Starting the car up, she turned on the radio to drown out the sound of the thrashing rain on the windshield and headed to Spencer's house.

Aria parked her car outside the Hastings gate, mumbling to herself about how Spencer hadn't had it open for her despite knowing of her arrival. She checked her phone again, she still hadn't got a reply back from Spencer. Maybe that's why the gate wasn't open and ready. Reaching for the coat she had in the backseat of her car Aria put it on and did up the zip before locking the car door and dashing out, opening the gate and slipping inside. The alarm on Spencer's car was going off as it often did when there was a storm.

Stopping by the door to the living room, Aria stood there shocked as she noticed the door had been broken into and there was glass splattered from the floor.

"Spence!" Aria shouted through the house panicking. Stepping over the glass she entered the house. The room was cold like the door had been open for some time sucking the warmth out of it. Arias' eyes darted through the room looking for any signs of life. The draw by the sink was open slightly, looking down at the floor Aria noticed Spencer's car keys which looked like they had been thrown, lying next to one of the stools at the kitchen island.

Continuously yelling Spencer's name, Aria rushed up the stairs in hope that Spencer was just in her room and hadn't heard the small brunette enter the house.

Standing by the doorway to Spencer's room Aria gasped, her hand raised to her mouth. Staring at the shattered glass that lay on the carpet she noticed the splatters of blood soaked through the carpet, standing out from the cream fabric like a red wine stain that had been left untreated. Aria leant on her knees careful to not cut herself on any of the glass. Sifting through the broken glass she paused eyes wide spotting a large piece, edges stained the dark red blood.

Aria continued to shout out for Spencer, unwilling to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Reaching for her phone she attempted to call her missing friend. Still, in shock, she clutched her phone to her ear as she heard a loud buzzing coming from Spencer's bedside table. Looking over she saw the phone; still left there from when Spencer had gone downstairs to turn the car alarm off.

Aria stared in horror, she knew something had gone horribly wrong but refused to accept it. Curling up out of reach of the broken glass she proceeded to text the girls 'SOS meet at Spencer's, Spencer's gone.'

Almost immediately Aria was receiving a phone call from Emily, panic in her voice.

"What do you mean she's gone?" Emily asked over the phone.

"She's... She's… gone." Aria cried, "There's…." she sobbed trying to gasp for air, "Blood. She's not here!"

Tension raised in Emily voice "Stay there I'm on my way."

Soon after both Hanna and Emily arrived. Aria was curled up on the floor still, trying to take in deep breaths to calm down. She was still trying to wrap her mind around it, she just couldn't understand what had happened to Spencer.

"Omg", Emily stared at the sight in front of her, "We have to call the police."

"What about if A did this" Hanna murmured, "You know what A will do if was say about them."

"Hanna! Spencer is missing, I don't think I can get worse than this", Emily shouted freaking out, "We have to tell the police this isn't something that we can just hide."

"Wait" Aria whispered, raising her voice slightly, "We can't tell the Police about A, especially if A has Spencer, they could kill her if we tried anything."

"Are you serious" Emily spoke.

"We inform the police of this, but just leave A out," Aria said determinabley.

Hanna reached out grabbing her phone from her back pocket, "Who wants to call then"

The three girls looked around until Emily took the phone, "I'll do it, I seem the one that is able to speak currently." Dialling up 911 she pressed the phone to her ear and breathed in slightly. "Hello, police please…"

Hours later the liars found themselves at the local police station giving their statements on what they knew. There was no sign of Spencer. The Police immediately questioned the idea of her being attacked and possibly kidnapped, due to the evidence of there being a struggle and that someone had broken into the house. The Police were currently searching around the premise to see if they could find any clues on the attackers leaving the house with Spencer.

The Police had taken Spencer's phone, but it was unlikely they would find anything about A that would be helpful. A had deleted all the content on their phones before in order to escape capture.

The girls huddled round together at the police station still in shock of what was happening.

"Do you think Spencer is alright," Aria questioned. The rest of the group remained silent.

Almost as if Arias wish had been heard, the small brunets phone beeped. Looking down at the screen a tear spilt down her skin. "Tell anyone about me and Spencer dies. A" Attached was an image, Aria couldn't bear to open it in fear of what it would hold.

Seeing Aria distraught and her hands shaking holding the phone looming over the button to open the image, Emily put her hand on the trembling girls in hopes to calm her down. Looking down at the image the three girls broke down as they saw their friend lying unconscious in the mysterious lair of A. Seconds later the image was gone and all traces of A's existence was being removed from the girl's phones.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a week since Spencer had gone missing and the police were no closer to finding out who had taken her. The police were more and more uncertain if she had been kidnapped, with no ransom being asked. They believed it was no accident that the girl had gone missing after being a suspect in accessory to the murder of the late Mona Vanderwaal.

Toby, however, didn't believe for a second that Spencer had helped with the murder of Mona, he knew it had to be A. The girls had told Toby about the latest A message, which just infuriated him more that the police thought Spencer helped kill Mona when she was held captive by the killer herself.

As heartbroken he was to hear of Spencer's kidnapping he couldn't allow himself to break down. He knew Spencer needed him to stay strong for her as she would blame herself if anything happened to him because of the situation.

For the past week, Toby had gone through every CCTV camera recording of the night Spencer had gone missing and when Mona had been attacked and presumably killed. Trying to figure out any connection, the same car driving past the scene, a stranger walking past anything that could connect the two events together to give him a lead. He knew A was smart and the chances that a mistake would slip through was very unlikely but Toby had to try.

Re-watching the CCTV cameras that were located near the Hasting residence he noticed something small out of the corner of his eye. He carried on watching as it kept repeating over and over again. A small leaf falling over and over again in the background. Toby clicked he had something, A hadn't just magically disappeared into thin air the tapes had been hijacked. There was a possibility, a chance he could get someone to find out where hack had come from and locate A.

The 3 remaining girls, knew the truth of Spencer's disappearance and as much as it killed them to keep it a secret they knew it was the only thing keeping Spencer alive… if she even was still alive.

"It's been a week", Hanna sighed collapsing on Emily's bed, "And the police are not closer to finding out what happened. I mean for goodness sake they think it was a whole set up, just because they think that Alison killed Mona and we helped her with it." Hanna continued to ramble on about the situation.

"Hanna calm down!" Aria uttered "Your freaking me out, I don't know how we are going back to school tomorrow. Everyone is just going to be staring, it's going to be like when Allison went missing."

"Although this time," Emily butted in ", it is not going to tear this group apart, we have to stay strong… for Spencer"

"To be honest," Hanna voiced "I'm surprised they let us have a week off school as it is"

"I'm not" Aria stated, "Did you see us; we have been an emotional wreck all week. I mean it isn't really a surprise we haven't received a single text from A since the night. They have gone completely radio silent on us. They just want to freak up out, and it's working. I just want to receive a message or something so I can hope that Spencer is alright."

"We should probably get some sleep" Emily explained, "My mom understands the need for us to be together at the moment but she probably wants some peace and quiet to allow her to sleep too."

With that the girls got ready for bed, dreading returning to school the following day. Pretty soon they had fallen asleep.

Upon arriving at the school all the girls could feel dozens of eyes turn to stare at them and whispers filled the corridors.

"I. I can't deal with this", Aria uttered heading towards the restroom.

"Aria wait up" Hanna called "Classes are starting soon."

The small brunette didn't reply. "Oh come on Hanna" Emily gestured, "She need us."

Barging through the restroom door, they saw Aria wipe away a tear. "I just, I can't go in there, I can't go a sit down next to an empty desk and just pretend everything is fine. It's not fine. Spencer is not fine. She could be dead for all we know, who knows what A is doing to her."

Aria started to panic; thoughts clouded her mind of what could be happening to Spencer.

"I. I need to go home; I can't do this." She sobbed walking out the door.

"What should we do?" Hanna inquired.

"We should get to class, my grades are slipping enough as it is, I can't afford to miss out on more school" Emily advised, "I will text Aria to make sure she is ok". She followed through the door and to her classroom as the bell rang overhead.

Aria curled up on her bed flicking through the photos on her phone of her friends. "Where are you, Spence?" She sighed. Staring at the evidence scattered on the floor she got up and tried to put the pieces together. "Common think Aria," she whispered "Spencer was the one that was good at this… Is good at this. She isn't dead, she can't be dead."

Looking over at the bin that was overflowing with old notes concerning A; Aria sighed, standing up and grabbing the bin as she headed towards the back door of her house.

Grabbing the handle, she opened the door and breathed in the cold night air; she had stuffed herself away from the world in her bedroom going over evidence all day while Hanna and Emily had been at school. It felt good to just relax for a second and forget all the drama that had devastated her life for the past few years.

Taking a step out barefoot Aria headed towards the bins. Opening up the lid of the container she heard movement in the bushes a few metres behind her. Before she could turn around to look A huge shock wave hit her body, she couldn't move; it felt like electricity was passing through every cell in her body. All her muscles tensed up and the most painful experience she had every had radiated through her body. Unable to support herself she fell forward into the collection of bins. Knocking them all over.

Aria tried to gasp for air, it felt like she couldn't breathe. Every second seemed like an eternity as she was unable to move and her body spasmed, flesh hit shards of broken glass bottles, but Aria couldn't feel that pain over the pulsating feeling traveling through her body.

The pulsating stopped as Aria collapsed, exhausted and gasping for air. The bin bags had mostly caught her fall and despite the cuts from the broken bottles she seemed to be physically in decent shape. She felt the bulk of a human weighing down on her, but from her sleep deprived state and all remaining energy feeling like it had been drained out of her during the attack she could hardly call out for help. Little would that do as she felt a ragged cloth being stuffed into her agape mouth, the smell wafted up her nostrils as she found herself falling into unconsciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

The following day Emily and Hanna attended school as normal, they didn't expect Aria to turn up after her freak out yesterday.

"Aria's taking this entire situation really badly," Hanna told Emily as they were entering their classroom, " I mean like we are all freaking out about Spencer but what she is doing is unhealthy. I mean how long can she spend locked away in her room going over the notes. We have spent days up there with her and we are no closer to figuring it out"

"Hanna," Emily Sighed,"She can't handle it, You know what happens when we try and fix bad, bad situations like this."

"Don't remind me, I've been to too many funerals for my lifetime." Hanna expressed.

"And that's why you and I decided to let the police do their job, I couldn't handle it if one of us ended up in a body bag." Emily replied, "She isn't coming in today obviously; maybe we should go visit her after school."

Hanna agreed as the two sat down at their desks ready to start the lesson.

Toby had hardly had any sleep since he had found the footage had been hacked and put on loop. After presenting his evidence to his chief, the department had sent out a request for the CCTV cameras to be looked at to see if they could find out how they were hacked and to see if they could pinpoint where the hack had commenced.

After looking through his evidence Toby decided that he needed to see if Aria had made any progress on her side as he had come to a dead end. Calling her up it went straight to voicemail.

"Weird," Toby thought as he looked up at the clock. "Oh… she must be at school. I just text her instead"

Hours after messaging her Toby still hadn't got a reply. It was lunch time at rosewood high so she should have been able to reply to his message. Deciding to make sure Aria had got the message he tried to ring her up, once again it went to voicemail. He knew the girls were probably together so he called up Emily to see if she could pass on the message.

"Hey Em" Toby spoke," I was wondering if Aria was with you so you could pass on a message she isn't answering her phone?"

"Aria didn't come to school today; we thought she must have stayed at home. She isn't taking this situation very well." Emily replied confused.

"Oh…. Ok," Toby commented confused, it wasn't like Aria to not respond, it was like her phone was normally attached to her hip. "I'm just going to check up on her then."

Hanging up on Emily Toby walked to his vehicle and drive to the Montgomery residence.

Knocking on the door, Mr. Montgomery answered.

"Hello Toby, Aria isn't in at the moment."

"Do you know where I can find her then?" Toby questioned as he began to panic wondering was she could have gone.

"Pretty sure she went to school this morning. She should be home soon" Byron stated.

"Could I just grab something from Aria's room? She's been helping me with something." Toby asked.

Trusting the young policeman enough Byron let him in. "Be quick."

Toby entered the house and walked up the creaking stairs. Entering Aria's room he noticed it was to tidy; the bin was empty, there were no notes sprawled over the floor like there had been for the past week. Going over to her desk all of her documents on A were gone. Taking out his phone Toby tried to call Aria once again, still no reply. Deciding the next move was to call Emily he rung her again.

"Em… she's not home. Mr. Montgomery let me in. All her documents on A are gone." Toby divulged.

"What do you mean she isn't home? Where else could she be?" Emily sounded panicked. "We're leaving school, stay by Aria's house we will be there soon."

With that Emily hung up the phone leaving Toby standing alone in the empty room.

Soon after the three friends joined together by Toby's car outside the household.

"She must be somewhere, no one would just go off and do something drastic without telling us, especially when kidnapping is involved," Hanna exclaimed.

"What are we going to do?" Emily asked.

"Um… you guys might not like this but… Caleb kind of but trackers in your phones in case you ever went missing." Toby told awkwardly.

"Wait what!" The girls screaked together.

"Well you guys were always getting yourself in trouble, and we were afraid that one time you might get yourself in just too much trouble." Toby tried to explain as he looked the faces of the two angry girls.

"You have been tracking us?" Emily shouted outraged. "A could have been using this information."

"Look ok, Caleb was sure that A couldn't break through the software he used to protect the connection, he made it himself." Toby clarified, "Just think about this now, we need this to try and find Aria."

As much as the girls hated the idea that the boys could see everywhere they went, they couldn't think about that now. They had to find Aria. Getting into Toby's car they drove to where Caleb was crashing.

"So how does this tracking thing actually work?" Hanna inquired.

"It works like text using the phone signal, sending a message to Caleb's computer every few minutes." Toby described.

"I'll call Caleb, let him know we are coming over." Hanna chimed in.

Toby knocked on the door to the place Caleb was staying.

"It's open," Caleb called from inside, as he was typing away on his computer.

Entering the building Emily exclaimed, "God Caleb do you ever clean in here. It stinks!"

"No, no I don't," the hacker replied. "I really can't smell anything. Anyway, I've logged into the tracking software, I just have to input a password to gain access. I had to make sure this system was A resistant." The hacker paused. "Have you called Ezra today?"

"No, why?" Emily questioned.

"The tracker last got a signal round near Ezra's cabin, is there any chance she could be spending a day with him? I know there is no phone signal up there." Caleb queried.

Emily looked confused, "I thought he was out of town at the moment," Pulling out her phone from her back pocket she looked up the teacher's number. The phone started ringing.

"Hey Ezra, we were wondering if you were with Aria" Emily inquired, already knowing the answer since the English teacher had managed to pick up his phone.

"No, I haven't seen her since I went out of Rosewood, I have plans to see her tomorrow night when I get back into town," Ezra responded.

"Ok, thanks anyway." Emily hung up the phone, "She isn't with Fitz, we need to check out the cabin. There is a chance she could have gone there alone if she needed to get out of the house and away from people."

"Ok, but then I need to report this in," Toby stated, "We have no idea where she is, and with what happened to Spencer I am less hopeful."

Picking up the spare key from under the flowerpot, Toby opened the front door to Mr. Fitz cabin in the woods. The lights flicked on. Toby stood there frozen with the two girls and Celeb behind him as saw the mess that lay before him.

Hanna pushed passed him in hopes to see what he was staring wide-eyed at. A small gasp came out of her mouth. "Is that real blood?"

Aria's phone lay cracked on the table top, above a note was painted across the wall in blood red.

"Stop Digging -A"

The group stood there in shock. Aria was gone, A had taken her.

"I have to call this in." Toby exclaimed, "You have to come clean about A"

"A said they would kill Spencer Toby if we did that!" Hanna cried "Oh god what are we going to do."

Toby wanted to do whatever he could to keep his love safe, but A wasn't being stopped like this. They were picking the girls off one by one.

"I have to call in that Aria is missing." Toby tried to explain, "We need help, we need to protect you two."

"But If A really does have Spencer and now Aria, they will kill them if we spill the truth." Hanna broke down crying. "We are stuck."

After wandering back to the car, Toby took the girls to the police station. They were still in tears; toby was trying to hold all of his emotions together. He had to act professional about this or he could be stopped from looking into the case.

"Chief" Toby called out, "I need to talk to you."

"Aria Montgomery has gone missing, I have been with her friends visiting any spots she could have been, there is no sign of her. Her dad believed she had gone to school that morning as she wasn't in the house when he woke up, but according to Hanna and Emily she never turned up." Toby stated.

"You think this is linked to the Hasting disappearance, don't you Toby." The Chief replied.

"Yes Sir, I know these girls. They didn't plan this. Someone kidnapped Spencer and the same person probably kidnapped Aria as well. The other girls aren't safe if this pattern continues."

The Chief looked over Toby at the two girls that were now sitting down. "I'm going to go talk to them, get together some of the workforces if this is connected we need to try and try and find any clues to help the case." The Chief slowly walked over to the girls as Toby started to round up some offices to inform them of the situation.

After an hour of searching through the Montgomery household and not finding any sign of an attack the police force. The officers informed Aria's parents of the situation and their suspicions and thought the best course of action was to get the public of Rosewood involved in a search party to check the surrendering area to see if any evidence could be discovered. The Rosewood police department was not big enough to check the whole town on their own quickly.

The Chief had decided since it was most likely the two missing cases were connected that the remaining girls should he police protection in order to prevent the situation getting worse.

Hanna and Emily had decided to stay around Hanna's house as they tried to get to sleep with stationary police officers parked outside the house; watching the house for any activity.

"Emily, you awake?" Hanna whispered.

"Yep, I can't sleep, I just keep worrying and wondering what we should do. In my head, I'm debating if we should be listening to A's message to stopping trying to find them, or if we should go to the police and tell them everything but chance angering A and getting them both killed."

"Well if I couldn't sleep before I definably can't now. They don't expect us to be going to school tomorrow right?" Hanna mumbled.

"I don't think so," Emily snivelled, hugging her friend as the bed became soaked with tears.


	5. Chapter 5

Aria awoke suddenly, her head rested against soft pillows.

“What the…” Aria exclaimed. Sitting up she noticed she was in bed. “I don’t remember going to bed last night.” Looking around she saw she was in her bedroom – everything seemed normal too her.

Getting out of bed Aria dragged her feet across cold wooden floorboards, rubbing her eyes trying to fully awaken. She reached out to turn the doorknob. The door stayed locked.

“Dad! Mike!” Aria Shouted banging her fist loudly against the wooden door. “If this is another one of my brother’s stupid pranks to annoy me this really not the right time,” Aria thought. The whole situation gave her a weird Meredith feel, taking a step backwards she noticed a small flashing light out of the corner of her eye.

Looking over she saw in the corner of her room a CCTV camera looking directly at her, the red light continuously blinking to show that it was recording. Aria started to panic whacking the door with her fist over and over again – but it wouldn’t budge.

With act of desperation Aria headed for the windows, in hopes that they would open. Lifting up the blinds she stopped, looking back at her was her own reflection surrounded by darkness. There was no way of opening them. They were jammed shut. Aria picked up a book that was lying on the windows edge, opening it she saw all the pages were empty.

Looking round closer at the room she started to notice the slight changes; photo frames without any images in, furniture items with slight pattern changes like they hadn’t been copied correctly, the blank canvases, Furniture that looked too new to be hers. Dropping the book, she went over to the cupboard and flung the doors open. Empty.

“Where am I?” Aria stared into the camera that had followed her round the room. “Where am I?! Aria shouted louder. In a pit of anger and despair Aria went over to the window picking up the book that she had dropped to the floor and threw it towards her own reflection in the window.

The glass shattered to reveal a concrete wall behind it, Aria raised her hands to her head covering her gasping mouth. She backed towards the bed away from the camera, as its head followed her body and the light continued to flash.

Aria sat motionless on the bed, trying to remember what happened. Recounting her steps she remembered being in her room trying to put all the clues together.

“But, then then what happened how did I get here?” Aria muttered to herself. Suddenly she remembered the searing pain she had felt spreading through her body, being unable to move.

“Spencer….” Aria twigged, she was with A wherever the hell this was, “Where is Spencer?” Aria demanded to know staring up at the camera with a stern look on her face trying to keep whatever control she had left.

“Welcome. Willkommen. Bienvinedo.” A loud speaker announced, “Please exit you room and follow the lighted pathway.”

“No” Aria proclaimed, “Where is Spencer!?” Her voice grew louder.

“Please exit your room and follow the lighted pathway” The voice spoke again.

“Where is Spencer?!,” Aria exclaimed clenching her fist. She knew A had her, she just wanted her to be alright.

A Slender figure appeared at the door, clutching onto the door trying to support their weight.

“Aria?” the figure spoke softly, like they had no energy.

Aria turned around, her eyes clashed eyes with the figure in the doorway. The blackened eyes were staring right back at her in disbelief.

“Spencer?” Aria whispered unable to process the transformation of her friend.

Her eyes were hollow from sleep deprivation, dark in comparison from her pale white skin, while she still showed signs of recently crying. Her clothes hung of her body due to the weight loss that sharpened the definition of her bones.

Huddled up against the door frame she stared back at Aria unable to comprehend her existence here. “You’re not real,” She muttered, “Your just another hallucination, another stupid trick.”

It hurt Aria so much to see how much Spencer had fallen, her once brave and strong friend had been reduced to a shadow of herself.

Rushing over to Spencer, Aria wrapped her arms around her as Spencer struggled to stay on her feet. Aria tried to support Spencer’s body from collapsing under itself. After a minute of holding the withering girl in her arms, the weight was too much to support and Spencer collapsed, pulling Aria down with her.

Aria rested her hand against Spencer’s cheek, looking at Spencer’s lifeless eyes.

“Spence, it’s me. It really is me.” Aria whispered to her friend as a tear rolled down her face. Spencer looked blankly on lifeless. “Spence look at me.”

Spencer turned her head, “You can’t be real.”

Aria sat there confused, “Why? Why can’t I be real Spencer?”

“You’re in rosewood, your safe there.” Spencer murmured.

Aria tried to hold back the tears that wanted to gush out her eyes. “Spencer what happened to you?”

The girl looked at the other girl in fear, as if she was scared to reply.

“Spencer?” Aria paused,” It’s me, it’s Aria, what happened to you?”

A tear fell down Spencer’s face as she realised that Aria was really there with her, that this wasn’t just all a hallucination.

“Have you had any food or water?” Aria questioned.

“A. A little.” Spencer replied burying her head into Aria shoulder. “When A let me.”

“Have you been alone all this time?” Aria asked, expecting Spencer to say that she had maybe seen A.

“Mona.” Spencer stuttered, tears pouring down her face.

Aria looked bewildered. “Mona’s Alive?” She gasped, remembering back to Mona’s funeral after the police where so sure that due to the amount of blood found in her house meant that she couldn’t off survived. “Spence?” Aria prodded, “Where is Mona?”

There was a long silence as Spencer was unable to produce the words that screamed in her head. “She’s dead” Spencer stuttered as she tried to gasp out for air amongst the crying.


	6. Chapter 6

Spencer grudgingly awoke, her head banged with a throbbing headache, wondering where she was Spencer tried to strain her eyes to look around but the room was very dimly lit and she could only make up what was right in front of her. Her hand was poorly bandaged, blood had soaked through the cloth and had hardened.

“How long have I been out for?” Spencer thought to herself. Shivering Spencer tried to move to find out her surroundings, a loud clanging stopped her she looked down and noticed her ankles bound together with leg cuffs and on her left wrist a metal bracket clasped around chaining her up to a hook sticking out from the stone wall.

Spencer tried to wake up more, she still felt woozy from whatever A had drugged her with. Her bloodied clothes still hung around her body not producing enough protection to warm her against the frosty room.

Spencer collapsed on the ground, her stomach rumbled and her throat felt dry from where she hadn’t had any fluids. She felt completely alone and scared out of her mind unknowing where she could possibly be.

What felt like an eternity of darkness went by till Spencer heard a loud clatter as light streamed into the room from the open doorway. Her heart rapidly beat and she could hear it pounding through her body. Blinking hastily, she tried to make out the room that she was locked away as her eyes saw caught a small figure crumpled on the grungy floor. Dirty brown hair fell over the figures petite body.

“Mona,” Spencer gasped as she stared at the girl she believed to be dead. Her thought process was stopped she noticed a hooded figure enter the room. She scuttled back in fear of A, restricted by the chains she was bound by.

A did not seem to care that she was awake and continued to walk toward the malformed Mona. Grabbing her by the hair pulling her hair up A checked if the girl was still breathing. Mona let out a small moan, she could barely open her eyes or stay awake as she was so weak. Releasing her hair Mona collapsed back to the down with a thud.

Spencer continued to stare at the girl, dirt covered her skeletal malnourished body, the little clothing that covered her frame were blood red. Open wounds that gushed were prominent on her body. Her hair once silky and flowing was mattered mixed with grease and dried blood. It made Spencer feel sick to her stomach realising what Mona had been through since her staged death. What had happened to her was far worse than previously thought.

A turned and faced the petrified Spencer, unable to do anything to protect herself. She looked like a deer caught in headlights knowing of the danger coming towards it but unable to move. A moved closer with each step Spencer flinched afraid of what was to come.

The figure stretched out their hand and pointed to a nearby plastic container filled with water.

“Drink,” The distorted voice commanded. Spencer remained still unable to move her joints locked into place.

“Drink,” the voice demanded again. Spencer stared at the figure wide eyed looking into the face of death itself.

“Fine, don’t then.” The voice bellowed causing Spencer to jump as A kicked the container towards her flooding the floor and clothing with the liquid. The shocked Spencer watched her abductor turn and leave the room, opening up a small hatch in the door to illuminate the equipment held in the room was scare the girl more than she was.

Spencer lay in the liquid as it soaked through her torn clothes making her colder than she already was. Trying to speak Spencer let out a small whimper, “Mona.”

The sleeping girl didn’t awake; her silent slumber was the only thing removing her from her awful reality.

Spencer had no grasp on the time that had gone past when Mona finally came to, there was no way to tell what day it was or even if it was day or night.

“Mona?” the tall girl whispered, the echo bouncing through the room. The petite figure turned her head. A look of sorrow covered her face.

“Spencer…” the girl started, her voice was rough and dry.  “Am I hallucinating?”

“Unfortunately for me... No,” the brunette replied, raising her body so she leaned up against the wall. Mona dragged her body to position itself towards Spencer with the little energy she had.

“What are you doing here?” Mona inquired.

“I think the question more is, how are you here? The police were certain you were dead.” Replied Spencer

“Well you know the Rosewood police department they are terrible at their jobs,” Mona sighed. “Is… Is my mom ok?”

Spencer nodded slowly, she hadn’t seen her since Mona’s funeral were she had been in tears over her departed daughter.

“You go first, what happened,” Mona inquired.

“A came to my house, I was alone. They attacked me. I managed to knock one of them unconscious then…” Spencer started to explain.

“One?” Mona asked “One of them?”

There was two of them at least, I didn’t see the other one, they ambushed me when my guard had been lowered and well... I’m here now.” Spencer continued.

Mona breathed in, “there’s more than one A…” Mona paused considering the thought. “A attacked me when I was at home, I can’t rely on remember much I thought it was Ali coming to get me, but now I’m not so sure. All I can remember was blonde hair. When I woke up here I had some food and water, the water is drugged. It makes you pass out, I’m not sure how long for… how long have I been down here Spencer?”

“about 4 months…” Spencer answered quietly.

Mona’s head dropped, “Well time doesn’t feel like that when you are down here alone… A keeps calling me her doll. I’ve had hardly any food since I’ve been here, running on scraps. Taking whatever I am given even if it disgusting and stale. A likes to play with her dolls,” Mona stuttered unsure if she should continue with the next part, it sickened her to think what had happened and she wasn’t prepared to say it all. “A enjoys the pain, the screams. It’s all just one big game to them where there is only one winner and the rest of us are losers. I just, I just can’t say what happened I can’t relive that.”

Spencer understood, it was visible what Mona had been through. The destruction was painted across her skin and the fear was set in her eyes.

The girls sat in silence, unable to reach each other to show any sign of affection to calm the other down and were unable to verbalise anything hopeful.

Days seemed to pass, Spencer’s and Mona’s body’s suffered from the dehydration. The tall brunette was becoming thinner and thinner as the day progressed. She wondered is A was never coming back if she was just going to die in here in the darkness, never being able to say goodbye to loved ones.

The door opened, weakly Spencer turned her head to see the dark figure walk in carrying two jugs of water. Spencer presumed they were both drugged, but at this point, she didn’t care. If she didn’t drink soon she was going to die.

A placed the jugs slightly away from the exhausted girls, as A turned to leave Spencer grabbed out for the jug calling to Mona to wake up as there was water. Mona’s eye lit up as she used her remaining energy to drag herself over to the jug.

The girls drank the refreshing liquid as quickly as they could, half way through downing the jug did they start feeling the consequences. Spencer could hardly keep her eyes open. Her body felt heavy but she persisted in trying to stay awake to drink. She didn’t know when her next refreshing cup would be coming.

A stood watching over the girls by the door, they enjoyed watching the girls pain and struggle. Soon the weight of the world came crashing down on Spencer and she blacked out still clutching the jug of drugged water in her hand. A came over and removed the near empty jugs before slamming the door shut engulfing the room in darkness.

Spencer jolted awake to the sound of ear piecing screams. Looking over she saw the beaten Mona with the looming figure hanging over her, whip in hand.

Spencer saw Mona’s fear in her eyes – fear of death. Her back was turned as much as it could away from A, her back torn and bleeding from the slices that had carved her skin. With each whip a deafening screech that echoed around the dark room. While A laughed at the girls’ pain they were inflicting on her.

A turned around to see the frightened Spencer cowering shackled in her spot.

Mona felt the break in the whips pattern, looking round she saw A eyeing up her next victim. Mona could let Spencer go through the same pain as she was.

“Leave her alone!” Mona cried, her voice harsh and broken. A turned back to her, the whip firmly gripped in their hand ready to clash with the bloodied skin. Mona continued to cry as the whip crashed against her skin, erupting blood for the new cuts. Mona felt completely defeated, she couldn’t save Spencer from what she thought was to come.

A went over to Spencer, they reached out to grab something from the shelf located above the girl. Spencer breathed heavily, her heart was racing she couldn’t bear to look at what was coming.

A dropped something at Spencer’s feet and left the room. There lay a wrap of bandages and a shiny key. Spencer opened her eyes and realised what A wanted her to do. She looked around A had opened the small window in the door again, letting in a dim light. She quickly unlocked her wrist from its shackles, her feet were still bound closely together. Crawling over slowly to Mona she embraced the shaking girl trying to avoid her obvious injuries.

“Mona, look at me.” The tall girl instructed.

Mona wearily raised her head, a small smile creeped over her face. “Guess you really are real then.”

Spencer began bandaging up Mona’s injuries try to stop the wounds from gushing out any more blood. Mona had already lost a lot and she was feeling lightheaded.

“It’s going to be alright, just stay with me,” Spencer whispered.

After trying to use the short lived bandages efficiently to stop the majority of the bleeding Spencer collapsed in Mona’s arms. The two girls were very weak; Spencer had not yet been given any food while Mona had been surviving on stale bread. They both collapse in each other’s arms trying to give themselves some comfort.

Hours past and Spencer woke, “Mona,” She whispered nudging the girl awake, “I have an idea.”

Using the wall to climb up to a standing potion Spencer proceeded to sluggishly move round the room, limited by the chain that held her ankles about a foot apart. There was nothing around the room, A had emptied it out, maybe half expecting that the girls could potentially use something as a weapon if they ever had free roam.

Spencer leaned herself against the wall by the door, hoping that she could ambush A when entering the room to check on them. She stood there for what seemed hours, her legs trying to support herself but wearying as time went by.

Spencer heard the door start to unlock, adrenalin rushed round her body giving her a needed boost of energy. With little to attack Spencer tried to put A in a headlock, but with little luck. With no food, the girl was too weak to overpower her kidnapper.

A elbowed Spencer in the stomach removing her clutch from around A’s neck. The girl staggered backward tripping over her footing, crashing into the floor. A turned around angry at the attempted escape; kicking Spencer harshly in the stomach till Spencer started gasping for air coiling up on the floor.

A took the beaten girl and dragged her by her arm, the force would leave a bruise radiating there, slamming her body up against the wall and shackling her left hand once again, preventing any chance of escape.  A picked up the key that had been ditched on the floor.

A had only planned on checking on the girls but since the incident they had felt an overpowering feeling or rage. Leaving the room, A brought back their whip with a jug of water and some more bandages.

With the anger brought up inside them the whip let out a thunderous clack as it lacerated through Mona’s skin. The girl screamed uncontrollably, they pain radiated through her body. It was too much the girl passed out.

Spencer was frozen, too scared to move. Tears fell down her cheeks, she knew this was her fault, she caused this. Silently she mouthed “Mona,” over and over again as the whip crashed against the girls’ unresponsive body.

A didn’t feel the same joy when their dolls didn’t respond so they remorselessly kicked the girl. When Mona didn’t move A took the key they had put in their pocket threw it to Spencer and left the room; locking it behind them.

Spencer cried looking at her beaten friend, she quickly unlocked herself and stumbled over. Checking her heartbeat, she panicked it was too low. Mona was losing to much blood, Spencer tried to stop the wounds with the bandages but more blood kept seeping through.

A stood by the door watching the girls’ useless attempts. Spencer looked around all hope gone from her eyes.

“Help her, she is dying.” She screamed, but still the figure just stared at her.

Spencer tried to stop the bleeding but it was too much, Mona’s heartbeat stopped. Trying to revive her Spencer started CPR. Mona was still unresponsive.

Spencer kept trying till her hands had cramped. Exhausted she collapsed on top of the lifeless girl, burring her head into Mona’s chest.

“No… no. You can’t be gone. You can’t be dead.” Spencer whimpered.

Spencer lay their crying, her tears had long run out. Mona’s body had gone cold, but Spencer refused to leave it. She didn’t know what A would do to Mona’s remains.

After a long time of silence, Spencer’s throat dried. She knew she would have to drink the drugged water left for her or she would die too, but she didn’t want leave, Mona.

Spencer got to a point where she knew she had no choice, she said some final words over Mona’s body promising her that she would get out and tell her mum how much she loved her.

Drinking the water Spencer fell unconscious the last image she saw was the now peaceful face of the long dead girl.


	7. Chapter 7

Spencer cried on Aria’s shoulder, she missed the company. She had barely managed to tell Aria what had happened as she had been continuously gasping for air amongst the sobs. Aria had stayed completely silence as Spencer had explained, shocked and heartbroken at what her friend had to go through. Even though she had already thought that Mona was dead, the shocking truth of what really happened stunned her to tears. She really didn’t think that A could be that cruel.

The two girls continued hugging each other in silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s companionship.

The speaker boomed loudly, “Please exit your rooms and follow the lighted pathway.”

“We… we should go,” Spencer stuttered, using Aria as support to push herself up. Taking Aria by her hand she led her through the empty corridor that connected the rooms up. Following the lights, she stopped out a room; the door was slightly open and the light was turned on.

Spencer timidly opened the door and stepped in, pulling Aria along beside her. It took a second for her eyes to adjust from the contract of the dimly lit corridor to the brightly lit room.

The girls scanned the room, they were alone. Only the red blinking camera was with them which A watched on the other end. It was still less freaky than A being there with them. Spencer was still unsure even with Aria if she would be able to overpower A.

The girl’s eyes fell upon a large banner that hangs from the ceiling. ‘Welcome Home!’ it read.

“This is not our home,” Aria commented staring up at the camera,” This will never be our home.”

Spencer’s eyes carried on down and fell upon a table, sprawled with food. Four chairs were arranged around it. Spencer quickly let's go off Aria hand and rushed over to the table. Never had she been so hungry in all her life.

On the table, A had laid out a selection of party foods across the table with a silver dome cloche covering a final dish, with a message that read. “Pudding.”

Spencer grabbed a plate and started shoving food into it. Aria stood their hesitant, unsure if she should join her frantic friend for the feast or not eat any of the cuisines for fear it had been tampered with. Her stomach rumbled giving her the answer she required.

Spencer pulled out one of the chairs and sat down ready to consume as much as she could. Before she could take the first bite the loud voice boomed out of the speakers, “What do you say?”

Spencer immediately paused from her meal exclaiming, “Thank you!”

Aria just stood there, shock on her face. She was so surprised at Spencer that she could be thanking this monster for anything. Let alone be enthusiastic about it. She refused to thank the monster for anything after all, A had made her life a living hell.

Carefully she filled her plate with food and sat in the chair by Spencer, she watches the slender girl gobble up all the food she could swallow.

“Spence, calm down. You’re going to make yourself sick from eating too quickly.” Aria spoke worriedly. The Brunette ignored her and continued to stuff her face, “Fine then, don’t blame me when you throw up later.”

The Small girl went over to reach for the tall pitcher of water that was situated in the center of the table.

“Don’t,” Spencer stated.

“What?” uttered Aria.

“It might be drugged; A’s been drugging all the water since I’ve been here,” Spencer replied.

Aria looked horrified, letting go of the jug she stared over at Spencer who had continued cram food into her mouth.

“How can you just eat like that when the food may just be drugged?” Aria questioned.

Spencer paused “I doubt it, plus I’m really hungry I don’t care at the moment.”

Aria spent the rest of the meal time picking at the selection of food on her plate, she obviously wasn’t as hungry as Spencer and the idea of the food being drugged really put her off her food.

“Aren’t you going to eat anything?” Spencer inquired, trying to keep down all the food. Spencer just watched the other girl shake her head, “Aria look I’m fine, the food is fine. Eat, you don’t know when the next time your will have food.”

Aria plopped small pieces of food in her mouth and swallowed, unsure of what to do next.

“Ok, can I at least start on the pudding then?” Spencer questioned.

“Fine,” Aria replied, “It’s not like I’m going to eat much more anyway. Enjoy.”

Spencer leaned over and raised the dome covering of the dish named pudding. Underneath was an assortment of different coloured pills in 2 blue little pots. Next to the pots was a note that read, “Take your Vitamins”

Spencer took the pot and studied the pills for a second.

“You aren’t seriously going to take them are you,” Aria exclaimed, looking at Spencer as if she was mad.

“I can’t see any harm to it, this one for instance I think is for Vitamin D,” Spencer believed,” Our bodies need that or symptoms include; nausea, excessive thirst, weakness and high blood pressure, and that is not stuff that I want to be dealing with as well.”

“What about the other ones?” Aria asked.

“Not sure, probably some other supplement,” Spencer assumed downing the pills.

“Spencer!” Aria exclaimed.

“What, even if they are sleeping pills it’s no big deal.” Spencer expressed.

Aria looked up at the camera in the corner of the room, the red light was still blinking indicating it was still functioning.

Her face was pure anger as she bawled at the camera. “You can’t just treat us like dolls, and tell us what to do.”

Spencer gave a death stare at Aria to try and get her to stop, the speaker replied overhead “Please return to your rooms.”

Spencer got up, poured herself a glass of water and started to quickly drink it.

“I am not your doll!” Aria hollered.

“Please return to your rooms,” the speaker announced again.

Spencer started to turn to leave, grabbing a bread and butter roll as she did so.

“No,” Aria roared, grabbing Spencer’s wrist as she attempted to leave, “No, we are not your dolls!”

A shrilling alarm started to wail. Aria let go of Spencer’s wrist in order to cover her ears and protect them from the ear-splitting sound. Spencer dropped the roll, shielding her ears from the siren and ran back to her room as A had previously requested.

Aria stared at the camera one last time before rushing back to her room and slamming the door shut.

A kept the girls locked away in their room for 3 days.

 Aria had started to become malnourished, she regretted hardly eating any of the party food. Meanwhile, A had been impressed at Spencer, thinking she had broken the girl. A enjoyed how Spencer had been thankful for the food, it felt good that even, after all, they had done to the girls A still had complete control over them.

As a reward A had let Spencer have a small meal each day, each which was always graciously accepted and responded to with Spencer turning to the camera to say her thanks. A had also given the girl plenty of water. Spencer had started to recover from the dehydrating side effects.

Over the 3 days of complete isolation the girls had become easily bored, A had given Spencer a copy of ‘Pride and prejudice’. Since It was all the girl had to keep her entertained in her room she had laid in her bed for many hours reading through the romantic story and analysing pages. Spencer was the only glad the book was quite long as she had already read the story twice so far.

Aria tried to fall asleep, but every time she thought she had managed to doze off a blaring alarm wailed to wake her up. Frustrated, exhausted, dehydrated and famished was not a good combination for Aria. She longed to be in her real bedroom with the ease of being able to skip downstairs to the kitchen for a midnight feast.

After the three days the doors buzzed, opening slightly. The voice on the speaker declared, “You are now free to roam your home.”

Spencer looked at the door in excitement, quickly glancing up at the camera she smiled, “Thank you.”

Dashing to Aria room she found the small girl curled up on the bed, her arms wrapped around her legs. Spencer sat on the edge of the bed, tapping Aria gently to try not to shock her out of her ghostly state.

“Aria?” Spencer whispered, hugging the small girl. The girl trembled in her arms, “You just have to be good.”

Aria whispered from her traumatised state, “How can you act like that.” Thinking back on how Spencer had so easily thanked A for everything while It was that monsters fault that they were down here.

“It’s how you survive. It’s just like mutualism both animals give the other something it wants so both stay happy.” Spencer explained

“What you mean, what A wants?” Aria questioned confused.

“I believe, A wants to be loved. They want us to love them.” Spencer answered.

“That’s crazy!” declared Aria, “That’s complete madness.”

“Then why have I been getting treated well when you haven’t?” Spencer countered.

“Cause A thinks they have broken you, just like when you went crazy and went to Radley and Mona tried to put you back together as her puppet.” Aria blurted out.

The room went silent. In the moment she had forgotten that Spencer had watched Mona die in front of her unable to save her. Aria stared at Spencer shocked at what had just come out of her mouth.

The tall girl had a tear falling down her face. She eyes had started to puff up. She breathed in trying to control her emotions. She had only survived so far without another breakdown as she had been denying to herself that the event had ever happened. She felt so guilty, she blamed herself for Monas death. If only she hadn’t been so stupid and tried to attack A then Mona wouldn’t be dead. Spencer believed it was truly her fault.

“Lets… let’s just explore this place. Ok” Spencer spoke between sniffles.

Holding Arias hand she lead the girl through the empty corridor towards the first lit room.


	8. Chapter 8

Sticking her head round the door Spencer recognised it immediately. The room felt like home, it was a replica of Spencer’s kitchen.

“This is creepy,” Spencer whispered to Aria.

“Like A must of broken into your house and photographed all of it to make this replica. It looks so real like we are really at your house.” Aria replied.

“I mean, we do tend to spend a lot of time in here,” stated Spencer, “plus it would be pretty easy to replicate since A wouldn’t have to worry about anyone being home half the time. I pretty much live by myself with my parents out so much.”

“Wait, do you think the water works?” Aria questioned rushing over to the sink.  As she turned on the tap her eye’s lighted up as she watched the clean flowing water. Cupping her hands to catch the life-giving water she slurped the water up as quickly as she could.

Spencer chuckled. “Take it A hasn’t been giving you water then?”

Aria shook her head, “I’ve had maybe a cup or so since I’ve last seen you. I have had even less food; do you think these cupboards are stocked?”

Pulling open the cupboards Aria was disappointed that the shelves lay bare or consumables. There were stacks of plastic plates, plastic cups and a whole draw of blunt cutlery.

“I take it A really doesn’t trust us.” Aria pointed out.

“I mean they wouldn’t want us to start arming ourselves would they?” whispered Spencer trying to hide her conversation from the listening ears of A that monitored the girls through the CCTV. “Come on, let’s look in a different room. This one is obviously well known to us.”

Spencer held Aria’s hand as they strolled down the corridor to the next open door. The room was small and dark, Spencer pulled down on the light switch and a shower became illuminated.

Spencer smiled from ear to ear. Turning the dial, she saw that no water was coming out. She looked around the small room and noticed there was no camera’s no, listening devices.

“A can’t see us here, well at least they respect our privacy somewhere. It’s hard enough to cope with camera’s being located in the ensuite toilets. “Spencer smiled.

Stepping out the room she looked up at one of the corridor camera’s that was staring right back at them.

“Please, may I have a shower later, pretty please,” Spencer begged. She hated begging but she really needed to wash all of the dirt and blood off her body.

The camera didn’t move.

“Come on,” Aria pulled on Spencer’s hand indicating she wanted to check out the next room. The two girls passed the dining room, which they had already been to for Aria’s ‘Welcome home party.’

At the end of the corridor stood one more open door. The two girls stepped inside, the walls were bright and colourful and the walls covered in shelf littered with boxes of different toys. A table sat in the middle of the room surrounded by 4 chairs. On the other side of the room was a wooden desk bolted to the wall, with a high wooden stool pulled up under it. There were some empty shelves too, the place seemed very undecorated.

“Well, I expect we will be seeing Hanna and Emily her too…” Spencer muttered noticing the extra chairs.

The two girls went over to the shelves to start checking out the boxes. Every single one was empty.

“Well this seems like hours of entertainment,” Aria muttered rolling her eyes.

“Wait,” Spencer exclaimed,” We have cards!”

“Are you sure they are not just completely blank?” Aria asked, “All my books in my room just have blank pages, I’ve been bored out of my mind.”

Spencer checked the packet, “Nope, they are all real. All the books in my room are empty too, just decoration. I have one book that’s real, though.”

“Wait you have a real book,” Aria questioned shocked.

“A gave it to me for being good, I’ve read it at least 3 times now,” Spencer responded

“Can I read it?” Aria enquired.

Spencer paused, “I don’t think that would be a good idea, it was a gift after all for me.”

Aria understood Spencer’s hesitation if she did anything to aggravate A she would have her privileges swiftly removed.

“Right, want to play cards?” Spencer asked.

“Sure,” Aria answered, “You know any good games?”

The tall brunette started to dish out the cards evenly, “I know a few.”

The door to the room swung shut, the sound of the electromagnets buzzing meant it was impossible to open if the girls ever wanted to escape back to their rooms.

“So that’s how all these doors work,” Spencer commented, “Electromagnets, it also explains how the doors are just able to close by themselves; there is a large enough magnetic field.”

“So basically, we can’t open that door unless the power is turned off?” Aria asked

Spencer nodded continuing to hand out the cards.

The two girls played a few rounds of cards till they heard the overhead speaking sonorous voice, “Please return to your rooms.”

The faint buzzing stopped and the door slowly creaked open.

Spencer collected up the cards and put them back in the little box that they came from before putting them back on the shelf.

Spencer took Aria hand leading her towards both their rooms reaching her own door she whispered into Aria ear, “Be Safe,” before entering her room. The door slammed shut quickly behind her.

Spencer wondered into her room, the bed had been neatly made and the reading book had put onto her bedside table. On her bed lay some clean clothes. Spencer rushed up grabbing the clothes and holding them out in front of her.

“Thank god,” she thought, “I can’t stand to be in these rags anymore.”

The garments had come from her own house; Spencer was sure of it. The top had a small hole in the lower right corner that Spencer was too lazy to sew back up. She hadn’t worn the clothes since then but she was very glad to be able to wear them now.

Underneath the clothes was pristine cream towel with Spencer’s name embroiled in black across the side. Spencer’s eyes lit up, this had to mean that she was going to be allowed to shower and remove all the dirt of her skin.

Deciding it was probably best to wait till she had showered to wear her new clothes Spencer took the tray of food that had been lying beside the clothes and relaxed in her chair happily consuming its contents.

Shortly after Spencer entered her room, Aria reluctantly walked into hers. The door slammed shut behind her. Aria was sure she would go out of her mind staying in the empty room alone until she saw a plastic tray with a plateful of food.

Aria hurried over to the tray, her stomach rumbled; it had been days since her last meal.

The plate contained lumpy mash, a buttered piece of brown bread and some minced meat. It wasn’t Aria most liked the food but she was so hungry so she didn’t complain.

Looking up at the camera she sarcastically exclaimed, “Thank you” before picking up the spoon and shovelling food into her mouth. She knew she would have to be polite in order to still receive food, but she couldn’t help but hate the fact she was thanking A for giving a basic human need. Especially when they had brutally taken away her human rights.

Over the next week, the girls were let out a few time for short periods.

 Spencer immediately went and showered. The water felt so good against her rough skin as she washed out the dirt and blood stains. The water turned a browny-red at her feet. The new clothes she put on her body felt so fresh and clean. She put her old rags in her draws knowing she might need them later.

Aria had gradually started to thank A more of minor acts of kindness, now realising it was the only way to live as best as she could have trapped down in the dollhouse.

The two girls had met multiple times in the games rooms to play a game of cards. After Aria had told Spencer about how her parents had been they had run out of things to talk about to each other so played most matches in complete silence just enjoying each other’s company. They both knew that they could be trapped down here for a while and it was just a matter of time before their friends would join their same fate.


	9. Chapter 9

It had been nearly 3 weeks since Spencer had gone missing with Aria having vanished as well 11 days ago. Emily and Hanna were scared for their friends, they had police protection but there was nothing protecting Spencer and Aria from the wrath of A.

The 2 girls were considering more and more every day that passed about informing the police about A. The police had got to a dead end with the case and hadn’t received any new evidence in the past week, it wasn’t looking hopeful. A was too good to get caught. 

Toby’s lead had hit a dead end as well; the video had been hacked from a cheap computer that had been found thrown in a dumpster, the hard drive had been removed and there were no traces of fingerprints or any detail where the computer could have been purchased.

The girls also hadn’t received any information from A About Aria’s disappearance, they knew it had to be their stalker but apart from the ominous warning in Ezra cabin they had no proof that Aria was even being kept captive by A.

“Hanna,” Emily nudged her friend, “Want to come round to mine tonight, we can watch a movie and try and forget about all of this for a second.”

“Sorry Em,” The blond replied, “I’ve got plans with Caleb, he’s taking the night off from the boys. All he ever seems to do is hang out with the boys going over evidence or staying with me trying to be my knight in shining armour. I mean I don’t mind the nights in with me, but I feel like I’ve ruined his life.”

“Hanna, when you met him he was living in the school,” Emily responded, “I don’t think you ruined his life.”

The blonde nodded, “Right, see you tomorrow then, meet at my house for lunch?”

“Sure,” Emily replied, “I’ll bring over some food. Thank god for the weekend. Being followed by Police all the time is starting to annoy me. At least when we are at home they stay in their squad car.”

The two girls parted ways and headed towards home, it was the only time in the day they weren’t being followed by police as it was during the crossover from school to home protection.

 

The boys had been spending all their free nights going through all of their old records of A trying to put together the pieces. They had boxes and boxes of information to sort through from when Ezra had been writing his book.

The 3 boys’ expertise had come in very handy when sifting through all the data. Toby had all the key knowledge from when he had joined the A team, he was able to join some of the pieces of information together. Ezra had spent hours upon hours researching each A event from collecting the information from his book. The thing that nearly tore him and Aria apart could potentially join them back up together again. While Caleb had spent years hacking into different computers and tracking them.

“Right I’m off, Can’t keep my lady waiting…” Caleb paused, regretting his previous comment. The two men that stood before him had before lost their love of their lives. “I’ll just go…”

Caleb got in his car and headed towards his girlfriend’s house.

Celeb knocked on Hanna’s front door, “Hey Hanna, I’m here.”

Hanna opened the front door, “Hey Caleb, come on in, I’m just going to make a coffee for the cops.”

Hanna wondered to the kitchen and boiled a jug of coffee. Taking out two mugs she poured the hot beverage before heading out and giving the drinks to the two cops.

Closing the door behind her she kissed Caleb on the cheek, “Right, now we are alone.”

“So, what do you want to do tonight?” Caleb asked.

“How about you and me go cuddle in my bed and I will put on a film” Hanna whispered in her boyfriend’s ear.

“Let me take you to your room then,” Caleb replied picking up Hanna bridal style. Climbing up the stairs he laid Hanna out on her bed.

“Well this is romantic, what film do you want?” Hanna asked picking up her laptop from her bedside table.

Caleb stood by the window his finger pulling back the curtain watching the street.

“You do know you don’t have to guard me, there is police outside,” Hanna expressed.

“Sorry, I’m just worried, the police in this town don’t always do a good job.” Caleb replied, “Also just put on any film just no chick flicks please, I don’t think I can stand to watch another one this month.”

The two lovebirds snuggled up under the warm covers, the laptop positioned on the table. Hanna rested her head on Caleb. “You know I love you right.”

“I love you too,” Caleb whispered.

During the film Hanna dozed off on Caleb’s shoulder, the hacker tried not to move. He knew his girlfriend hadn’t been sleeping well for the past 3 weeks since Spencer had first gone missing.

 

Emily knocked on Hanna’s front door, her right hand clutching a bag of food.

Caleb opened the door, “Hey Emily, Hanna’s just in the shower. Come on in.”

Emily strolled in and put the hot food contents on the kitchen table.

“Right, I’m off then. Have fun with Hanna.” Caleb expressed as he picked up his car keys and left the house.

“Hanna,” Emily yelled, “I’m here. Want me to make some coffee.”

“Thanks, Em,” Hanna called back,” I’ll be down in a second.”

Hanna sat down around the kitchen island.

“So, are we going to tell the police about A.” Hanna inquired, “It’s been 3 weeks and still are not closer.”

“I suppose we have to,” Emily sighed, sliding over a cup of hot coffee, “How about we go tomorrow then?”

“Why not just now, I mean there is no A stopping us from currently getting in our car and going over, “Hanna declared.

“Can we just go tomorrow,” Emily moaned,” I can’t deal with that drama at the moment.”

“Emily, the others are missing we need to tell.” Hanna yelled, “The police have no leads, they are no closer to finding A, they don’t even know they are trying to find A.”

“My mom comes home tomorrow; I just can’t go to the police when my mom’s away. You know what A might do to her,” Emily revealed.

“What just like what A might be doing to Aria and Spencer!” Hanna screamed.

“When Miss Montgomery got close, A set off a load of bees in her car!” Emily hollered back.

“Maybe I should just go without you then!” Hanna hollered.

“Oh like you would actually do that. We can do it tomorrow, first thing.” Emily countered lowering her voice.

“Fine,” Hanna sighed, “First thing.”

Emily put her head between her hands, “Good. Then we can finally put an end to all this madness.”


	10. Chapter 10

Hanna tried to relax, all the arguing between her and Emily earlier had stressed her out. She couldn’t believe they were finally going to tell the police about A and help with any potential leads that would conclude with them finding their best friends.

Hanna worried that A might keep true to their word about killing Spencer if they did say, but at this point, she wasn’t even sure that her genius friend was alive – she could only hope to see her friend again.

Hanna paused and looked up at the clock, the police rounds were about to change over outside her house. As annoying as it was to have police protection to be constantly looking over you, it made Hanna feel safe. Dragging herself out from under her covers from where she had been reading a book for English she headed down to her kitchen to pour 2 cups of coffee for the awaiting officers outside.

It was normally the same officers on patrol every night and Hanna had got used to what their drink preferences were. One coffee with 2 sugars and one with none.

Picking up the recently cleaned mugs of the washing board she poured the steamy contents and popped in the sugar. Walking over to the door she put one of the mugs of the ledge before opening the door and taking a step out into the cold night.

Looking over at the police car she checked that the petrol had changed over, the vehicle's windows were fogged over. Hanna walked over to the patrol car and knocked on the window lightly twice. There was no respond. Hanna knocked again louder unsure if they had heard her the first time.

There was still no response, placing the steaming hot mug down on the nearby she went and slowly reached for the handle and opened the door slightly. Hanna's jaw dropped, they were sleeping on the job.

"Hey, Paul. Ben. You're meant to be awake," the blonde proved the men.

There was no reply.

"Paul?" the blonde panicked taking the police officer and shaking him slightly. The officer was still unresponsive.

Hanna looked around panicking, putting her fingers to the officer's neck she checked for a pulse.

"Thank god your still alive," the globe thought relieved.

Her attention then turned to the fact she wasn't safe here, the officers hadn't just dozed off. They had been drugged, and she only knew one person that could be responsible for that.

Picking up her phone from her back pocket she rushed inside and locked the door. Unlocking her phone she immediately dialled Emily. The girl had been her safety net for the past their weeks when she had been panicking.

"Em. Emily, they're unconscious," Hannah shouted down the phone petrified.

"Hanna slows down, speak clearer," Emily responded worryingly.

"The cops outside my house. They are unconscious," Hanna replied slowing her breathing.

"What did you do?" the girl inquired.

"I didn't do anything, I just went out to give them coffee and them aren't responsive," Hanna replied staring at the door.

"Emily who is it?" the blonde could hear quietly over the phone.

"It's Hanna, she is having a panic attack I need to go." the brunette responded to the voice," Hanna stay where you are I'm coming to you."

Emily picked up her bag from her bedroom and got into her car.

"Hey Emily, were are you going?" a police officer called waiting in her vehicle.

"Hannas, she is having a panic attack." the brunette quickly replied. The officer nodded thinking that the girl would be safe with the other patrol car that was located at the Marin residence.

Em backed her car out of the driveway and turned on the car lights, it was late and the streets were near pitch-black apart from the dim glow of the odd street lamp.

The girl drove fast then normal; she didn’t care about the speed limits she needed to get to Hanna.

The car came out of nowhere.

Its lights turned off, it slammed into Emily’s vehicle.

All went black as Emily’s car started to rollover, skidding losing control across the desolated road. In the split second the airbags started to deploy but it was too little effect as Emily's body was thrown around inside her vehicle.

Emily could only see a flash before all she felt was pain and it went completely black.

The car lay upside down, Emily’s arm was deformed, it had got most of the impact when the car had hit, protecting the rest of her body. During the flip, Emily had hit her head on the now broken window. Blood dripped from the back of her head. Her arms fell limp under the pull of gravity, her seatbelt clasped her to her seat.

Another vehicle pulled out in front of the wreckage, stepping out they went over to the car. Reaching in through the broken window they grabbed the unconscious girls phone, a black hood covering their head.

Heading back to their vehicle they quickly drove away. Another figure the one that had crashed into Emily’s car went and stood by the car, calling over to a partner to get the medical gear.

The figure pulled Emily from the obliterated car, pulling her onto a stretcher and with their partner carrying the girl to their dented car, before driving off.

The hooded figure pulled out near the Marin household, Emily’s phone in hand. Unlocking the phone, they sent a message, “I’m outside, let me in.”

The hooded figure stood by the door, hidden by the shadows.

Hanna’s phone buzzed, timidly she went and opened the door expecting Emily to be there waiting to hug her and tell her it was alright.

As she started to open the door she saw the black hoodie, horror filled her head; she was petrified.

Hanna tried to slam the door but the hooded figure had stuck their food in the doorway stopping her chance of escape, stumbling back she reached out to try and grab something to defend herself. A larger figure stopped her retreat, she tried to scream but the figure covered her mouth with a cloth. The screams barely let out a whimper as the first figure entered the house and shut the door behind them.

Hanna continuous to be dragged back, she tried to keep up with her footing as she attempted to thrash out against her attacker. Bewildered she stared at her attacked, it all suddenly made sense after all this time she thought A had only been one person but it had in fact been a team.

The figure behind her restricted her arm movements while the hooded figure in front got out a large needle. Hanna’s eyes widened as she saw the needle getting closer and closer. All she felt was pain before it all went black.


	11. Chapter 11

Hanna shot up from her sleeping position, looking down she saw she was in bed. The covers were thin and provided little warmth, looking around she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dim light.

“What the” Hanna whispered to herself, the room she was in looked like a hospital room. Her last memory flashed inside her head. The pain and struggle all flooded back to her as she realised she probably wasn’t in a safe hospital room, but instead inside the lion’s den.

Pulling her legs over the side of the bed she put her bare feet on the ground. The floor was cold, looking down Hanna noticed she wasn’t in the clothes she was previously wearing. Instead, she was wearing some grey jogging bottoms that hung around her ankles and a light plain blue top. Hanna could see that the outfit was obviously awful but she couldn’t concentrate on her current fashion disaster.

Pulling back the thin blue curtain that lay a metre away from her bed, she gasped.

Em lay there unconscious, her dark hair covered part of her face hiding the cuts and dried blood. Her arm lay resting on her stomach, enclosed in plaster. The girl was visibility paler than normal, Hanna watched for a second as she saw the girls’ chest move up and down slightly as she breathed.

“Omg, Em?” Hanna tried to say, although it came out in a rough whisper.

Hanna went over to where Emily lay, she didn’t want to touch the girl in fear that it would hurt her. She didn’t understand how Emily could have been in such a bad state.

“Emily?” Hanna spoke louder, trying to wake the girl up from her slumber.

“5 more minutes,” the athlete mumbled, trying to turn in her bed. A sharp shooting pain radiated through her whole body as she tried to move. Emily moaned, she tried opening her eyes.

“Em? Can you hear me?” Hanna inquired.

“Where am I?” the sleepy girl asked.

“I’m not sure but It looks like a hospital….” Hanna replied.

“What do you mean looks like?” Emily asked opening her eyes fully to get a good look. Moving her eyes around she saw the blonde girl looking at her worryingly, cabinets hung above some counters. The counter was relatively bare, the only thing on display was some rolls of bandages.

“Em, what’s the last thing you can remember?” Hanna questioned.

“You… you called me, so I decided to come over to your house.” Emily replied thinking.

“Do you remember why I called you?” Hanna asked.

Emily paused trying to think, “um…”

Hanna started to reassure the confused girl, “It’s alright if you….”

“Omg, I was in a car crash. Am I dead?” Emily interrupted.

Hanna laughed, “I hope not, this is a pretty crappy afterlife.”

Emily tried to ease herself up from her bed, with every tiny move her face crumbled in pain.

“Em, stay still your hurt.” Hanna tried to persuade the injured girl.

Hanna went over to the door and tried the handle, it wouldn’t budge. She tried to put all her weight into pulling it down, but still, it wouldn’t open.

Pulling her hand into a fist she started banging the door, “Anyone there?” she shouted.

After a few minutes of trying the girls hadn’t got a response, walking up to Emily she pulled up the chair that was near the girl's bed and sat down facing the injured girl.

“Han, where are we?” the girl questioned.

“I don’t know,” Hanna replied with fear in her voice.

“I’m scared,” Emily whispered almost in tears.

Hanna brushed her hand against the girls’ face trying to avoid the cuts and scratches.

“Stay there, I’m going to search the room. Try and get some rest,” Hanna instructed getting up from her chair. Emily closed her eyes as she started to drift off to sleep.

Hanna wondered round the copycat room, opening the cupboards she found normal medical supplies; more bandages, burn creams, heat packs, cleaning wipes, a selection of different plaster box’s, sterilised scissors sealed in bags, suture packs and wound closer strips.

Opening a lower cupboard in the counter revealed a fridge with cool packs in it. Hanna opened the cupboard next to it, the cupboard was packed with a plastically cloth. Hanna pulled it out to get a better look at what she was dealing with. Her stomach turned as she realised what it was – a body bag.

Pushing the bag back into the cupboard she shut the door quickly and tried to regulate her breathing. She thought to herself, why would A need them. Then it dawned on her, they really weren’t safe here. Hanna thought back to her previous friends and wondered if they were actually still alive or if they had ended up lifeless suffocating in the body bag.

Em lay there, eye’s still closed. “Han, you found anything useful yet?”

“Not quite,” the blonde replied as she opened up the final cupboard, “Oh wait. Food!”

Hanna hadn’t found much but a box of cereal bars but it would give them some needed energy. Hanna ripped open the packaging and took out one of the bars, tearing of the foil she offered the contents to Em, before attempting to feed the girl. She was in no state to do it herself as every slight movement in her body cause pain.

Hanna gobbled up on of the cereal bars too before placing the rest of the box on the counter.

“Em, get some rest. You need it,” Hanna commanded before she went over to the door and started banging her fist up against it again. She felt completely powerless, she just needed some help.

Quite a while past and Hanna was growing tired.

A loud voice boomed over the speaker causing Hanna to jump and Emily to wake up.

“Welcome. Willkommen. Bienvinedo.” A loudspeaker announced, “Please exit your room and follow the lighted pathway.”

Hanna stared over at the confused girl and whispered, “I think we are in A’s house.”

The speaker repeated, “Please exit your room and follow the lighted pathway.”

The door let out a small buzz and started to quickly opened causing Hanna to fall backwards as she had been leaning on the door.

Hanna got up, stepping outside the room she looked at the dark and narrow pathway. There were small lights shining in patterns installed in the bottom of the walls.

“Em, the corridors empty, “Hanna started to explain as the door slammed shut in front of her, “Em!” Hanna shouted banging on the door in a panic, she wasn’t going to be separated from Emily when she was so vulnerable.

The speaker boomed again more persistent this time, “Please follow the lighted pathway.”

Hanna didn’t move from where she stood, she continued to shout out to the injured girl.

Smoke started to feel the corridors, Hanna started to panic more as she started coughing. Her fist pounded against the door as loudly as she could. She couldn’t breathe, the smoke was suffocating, Hanna collapsed on the floor trying to collect any oxygen before she passed out.

 

Hanna woke up, her wrists were shackled together with a chain leading to a wall. The room was dimly lit, only a small amount of light filtered into the room. Hanna blinked twice staring at a silhouette of a figure standing in the doorway.

The figure laughed menacingly.

“Where is she you monster,” Hanna screamed into the darkness of the room.

A slammed the door shut engulfing the room into near darkness, the sounds of loud screams echoed through the room. The deafening sounds of Emily.

Hanna cried out, begging for A to stop hurting her friend, the screaming continued and so did Hanna till her voice become too dry that no sound was coming out.

She tried to cover her ears to silence the screams, looking around the dimly lit room to draw her attention away she saw a great colour change. Staring at the area more she noticed the sickening shade of red that lay like a puddle on the floor and the blood-red handprints that decorated the floor and wall around it.

Hanna gulped, she knew she was in trouble now.


	12. Chapter 12

Emily still lay in the medical room resting, the screams Hanna had heard were only an illusion, fake screams to torture the poor girl. Emily barely moved, the pain was manageable as long as she didn’t move her arm around at all. She had managed to pour herself some water from the table that was next to her with her left unbroken arm, although it was difficult to stabilise the cup.

The room was still locked; Emily was trapped inside on her own.

Spencer woke up, she wasn’t sure what day it was. It seemed like at least 2 weeks had gone past but time moved differently for the girls as they hadn’t seen the set or rise since they had been locked down in the bunker.

Spencer looked over at her cabinet and shivered, there was a note there with a box. Spencer hated the idea that A could come into her room when she was asleep, and there was nothing she could do to protect herself. She hated that were ever she moved the cameras head followed her.

Her currently clothes were still reasonably clean since Spencer had tried to shower as often as possible, she had even tried to wash them in the shower but they took so long to dry as there was no warmth to dry them quickly.

Spencer opened the box, inside folded neatly was a nurse outfit. Spencer looked at the outfit confused before opening the note.

Spencer looked at the note, “I have a patient for you. Make it quick.  A.”

Spencer shivered, her heart pounded. She wasn’t able to save the Mona, A making her look after someone else made her stomach sick. What made it worse was the fact she knew it would probably be one of her friends.

Spencer stripped of her current clothes and put on the new outfit. Spencer hated she had no privacy in the dollhouse, it was just something she had to deal with now.

The door buzzed open and the voice over the intercom boomed, “Please follow the lighted pathway.”

Spencer did as she was told, the lights led her to a room she had never been in before. Outside lay a tray with a cooked meal and a pot of many pills. The meal was larger than Spencer had been receiving, Spencer looked down at her body. It was clear to her that she was losing a lot of weight.

Spencer held the tray with one hand, opening the door with the other and stepped inside. Spencer gasped as she saw her friend sleeping in a hospital bed, with her arm broken and other visual damages.

Spencer calmly went over to the sleeping girl, carefully trying not to knock all of the items off the tray she placed it down on the table next to a beaker of water.

“Em,” Spencer rushed over to her friend nudging her trying to get her to wake up. She had missed her friend; it had felt like forever since she had seen her.

Emily woke up and mumbled, “Spence? Where’s Hanna?”

“Well, nice to see you to then.” Spencer laughed, she missed the sound of the swimmer's voice.

“Have you seen Hanna,” The swimmer asked again, the girl was still confused on what was happening or where she was.

“Em, I haven’t seen her. She isn’t here,” Spencer tried to reassure the confused girl.

“No… no, she was here” the injured girl barely whispered, unsure of anything herself.

“Em? What happened,” Spencer asked worriedly.

“There was a crash, I think. Where am I, am I dead?” Emily asked with fear in her eyes.

“No. No you’re not dead,” Spencer tried to reassure the girl, “You’re in A’s house, well A’s dollhouse.”

“Where’s Aria?” Emily mumbled.

“She’s fine, she is in her room,” Spencer replied pretty sure with her statement. Picking up the pills she brought them over Emily, “Look you need to take these, they will help with the pain. It looks like you have broken your arm.”

Emily started to refuse, “I always have the worst of luck.”

Spencer chuckled, “have you seen me, I am withering away here while you have this lovely meal that was prepared for you. You better eat up; you will need it”

Spencer put down the pills and picked up the food putting the tray on the girl’s lap and handing her the fork.

“I have to go now Em, make sure to take those pills,” Spencer told sighing.

“Don’t. Don’t leave me,” Emily replied starting to tear up, “I don’t want to be alone again.”

“I’m sorry,” Spencer apologised leaving the room, she tried not to cry as she walked back down the corridor to her room.”

In the distance, she could hear the speaker talking from Aria’s room giving her free roam. Aria left her room, she still hadn’t received anything to entertain herself in there and the girls weren’t allowed to move items from room to room or to share.

Turning the corner, she spotted Spencer walking back to her room, breaking out into a sprint she ran over and hugged the girl.

“Hey, why are you wearing a nurse outfit?” Aria inquired.

Spencer stopped, pausing for a moment she replied, “Emily here. I think A got her in a car crash, her arm is broken and it seems like she might have a concussion. She keeps thinking that Hanna is here, have you seen her?”

“No, not at all,” the small brunette replied.

“She isn’t taking the pills A has given her as well, but she seems to be in so much pain, she kept flinching every time she moved. Anyway look, I have to go back to my room. I don’t have free roam privilege at the moment.”

With that Spencer walked back to her room leaving Aria standing in the corridor.

Aria continued walking down the corridor to the shower room, opening the door she stepped inside and turned on the tap. Nothing happened.

“Great, I completely stink.” Aria complained, walking out she turned to the camera pleading, “Can I please, please have a shower tomorrow?”

As Aria finished pleading she heard the faint sound of crying coming from further up the corridor.

The door the crying was coming from was locked, Aria knocked on the door, saying loudly, “Em?”

The crying started to stop and was replaced by snuffles.

“Em? Is that you?” Aria asked already knowing the answer she could recognise the girls’ cries.

“Aria? Where am I, What’s happening.” Emily replied scared.

“You were in a car crash remember,” Aria replied realising the Emily had obviously got a concussion from the crash.

“I remember… Where am I know?” Emily spoke a bit louder, “Wait, A has you, you can’t be real.”

“Emily, this isn’t a real hospital,” Aria tried to explain.

“What do you mean,” the girl asked confused, “Where is Hanna, Hanna was here.”

“Em, I think you might have a concussion,” Aria replied, “From the car accident. How’s your arm?”

“It hurts,” Emily moaned.

“You need to rest. Did you take the pills that Spencer brought you?” Aria inquired.

“Wait. Spencer was real?” Aria questioned confused.

“Yep,” Aria replied.

“Why did she leave me then.” Emily sobbed.

“A doesn’t let us out of our rooms for long Em, have you taken your pills,” she asked again.

“I don’t want them,” Emily replied.

“Em, take them you’re in pain and it’s not wise to make A angry.” Aria pleaded.

“Fine,” Emily gave in, picking up the tablets and swallowing them, “Just don’t leave me please.”

“I will stay as long as I can, Emily do you know that the date is?” Aria asked.

“It was the 7th April I think,” Emily replied.

Aria took in a deep breath and sighed. It had been longer than she had realised, she had spent at least 12 days down there. While Spencer had been down there for 3 weeks. She couldn’t help thinking of how her family were coping with her disappearance.


	13. Chapter 13

The joyful sound of music played over the speaker waking up Spencer, confused to the change in the atmosphere she listened to the lyrics.

 “Happy Birthday to you…” the speaker sang.

Spencer sat up from lying in her in bed, “It can’t be,” Spencer muttered, “It can’t be the 11th of April already. I mean I knew it was coming but it didn’t feel like it should be this soon.”

Spencer noticed her door was open, seemed like she hadn’t been given a birthday treat or free roam today. Planting her bare feet on the soft carpet she stood up and stretched her arms out and started to do some exercise. Since she had been down in the bunker for 3 and half weeks she hadn’t done much physical activity. It had been a huge change from her normal routine of regular sport, but she never had as much energy to waste anymore.

The music was still playing in the background quieter than before. Turning around she saw her small friend leaning against the doorframe.

“Are you hearing this?” The small friend asked.

“Yep, you’re not going crazy, well at least not yet.” Spencer smiled sadly, “Can it really be my birthday already?”

“Em told me she was kidnapped on the 7th so it makes kind of sense,” Aria explained.

“All the days seem to of just mashed together, but it doesn’t feel like it has been 3 and half weeks for me.” Spencer sighed burying her head in her hands, “A might have us on their own clock for all we know, they might be running on a 26-hour day or it might be night-time outside while it's daytime for us.”

“I think we would notice if we had a 26-hour day Spence,” Aria replied.

“Would we, like how long do we spend locked in our rooms, time gets really distorted when you are locked away by yourself with nothing to do,” Spencer argued slightly panicking.

“Spence, calm down birthday girl. Let’s not waste this free roam time,” Aria stated heading over to Spencer to give her a hug, “Come on, let’s go.”

Aria led Spencer through the empty corridor, most of the doors had been opened. The room to the kitchen was opened wide blocking of access to the rest of the corridor.

Aria peeked her head around the room, she perked right up when her eyes fell upon an unwrapped box.

“I think you have a present Spence,” Aria gestured to the box.

Spencer went over and opened the folds of the box, inside was a card under which was 3 chocolate chip muffins, a candle and a matchbox with one matchstick. 

Spencer took out the card, it was a decent shop bought a card for a change, reading “Happy Birthday” on the cover with a blue backdrop and an image of the different coloured balloon. Spencer wasn’t expecting anything.

Opening the card revealed a not so nice warning.

“Dear My Spencer, Happy Birthday. I can’t believe how long I’ve been watching you for now. Time passes so quickly. At least I will be able to get more time with you now that you are here my little doll. So play nicely and you might not have to get punished. The muffins are for you girls; Emily is still in the med bay. Don’t use the match for anything other than the candle or I’ll leave you to burn in here. Have a good day. A.”

Spencer shivered showing the card to Aria, it was nice that she had received something. It had been a while since she had a change of flavour.

“Only 3 muffins, do you think Hanna isn’t here yet then? Emily seemed so sure of it. Saying that she also had a concussion so I don’t think we can really trust all of her recent memory’s currently,” Aria spoke.

Spencer shrugged, unsure of what she believed. Picking up the box the two girls carried on down the hallway to the medical bay. The door was open slightly but the girl inside was still sleeping, she obviously hadn’t awoken to the sound of happy birthday being played through the dollhouse.

“Hey Em, wake up” Aria nudged the sleeping girl.

“Hey,” the girl mumbled, “It’s been pretty boring being stuck in bed.”

“Em, it’s pretty boring not being stuck in bed too.” Aria laughed realising she actually hadn’t seen the girl face to face in two weeks.

“So, how you feeling?” Spencer asked.

“My arm still hurts, but at least the headache is gone,” the swimmer replied.

“Anyway, we have a surprise,” Spencer told excitedly getting out the muffins from the box, “Guess whose birthday it is?”

Emily paused, “Nope, I have nothing. It hasn’t really been 4 days has it?”

“It seems it has been,” Spencer replied sadly.

“My mum is going to be so worried.” Emily sighed.

“Em, don’t focus on stuff you can’t change, it will drive you insane if you do.” Aria tried to comfort Emily. Placing her hand on her shoulder as she spoke.

Spencer placed the muffins on the table by Emily’s bed, putting the candle in the middle muffin she struck the matchstick and lit the candle.

“Well, better make the most of a bad situation,” Emily sighed.

“Happy Birthday to you,” the two girls started singing to Spencer as she stared into the flame that gave her a small amount of warmth and hope.

As the girls finished singing Spencer took a deep breath and blew out the candle.

“What did you wish for,” Aria asked.

“I think you can guess,” Spencer replied staring at the smoke coming off the burnt end, “tuck in guys.”

The three girls’ stayed there in silence slowly eating the chocolate muffins, enjoying every mouth-watering bite.

“How long do you think A will let us out for today?” Aria questioned.

“I’m not sure, why?” Spencer responded.

“Em, do you think you could make it to the games room?” Aria asked the injured girl.

“How far away is it? Also why?” Emily replied.

“It has cards, it’s not that far down the corridor, Maybe 10 metre down,” Aria told with hope.

Emily tried to get off her bed, but as she tried to swing her legs off the bed she cried out in pain.

“So, that idea is out the window,” Aria sighed.

Emily lifted up her covers to reveal her bruised legs. Thankfully they weren’t broken like her right arm.

“Do you think we can just bring the cards here?” Emily inquired.

The three girls paused.

“We could ask A since it is my birthday,” Spencer joined in. Turning to the camera she asked, “A, since it’s my birthday can we please play cards in here. I’ll put the cards back after.”

The girls remained silent waiting for a reply, it never came.

“I take that as a no then.” Aria sighed.

“Why can’t we just take the cards and play here without A’s permission,” Emily asked confused.

“A doesn’t like items being in rooms they aren’t meant to be on. Nor do they like us sharing items. If A gives you something unless said otherwise its only for you. It’s so they can reward the good and punish the bad.” Aria tried to explain.

“I suppose we can just talk; I mean there is a lot of stuff in Rosewood we have missed out on.” Spencer pointed out, “Em, how’s Toby holding up?”


	14. Chapter 14

It had been a few days since Spencer’s birthdays. The girls had seen each other a few times since. Emily was no longer bed bound after taking pain medications the pain had dumbed enough for her to move around enough to stay in her own room instead of the hospital bed. Although she still needed Aria or Spencer to do most things for her as they were just too strenuous for her body.

The girls were all relaxing in their rooms. They didn’t have much to keep them entertained, Emily had spent most of her time sleeping, healing her body. Spencer had continued to read the one book she had been given, she could almost recite it all off by heart. While Aria had been given a pencil, which she had been using to fill up all the empty books full of new stories which she could share with her friends if she was allowed.

The doors buzzed open, the overhead speaker loudly announced, “Cleaning time, this house is getting too dirty.”

Spencer peeked outside her room, located in the corridor was a cleaning trolley loaded with supplies. The trolley was loaded with; rubber gloves, sponges, cleaning wipes, a selection of cleaning liquids, dusters, mops, dustpan and brushes. Positioned next to the trolley was a small wireless vacuum.

Spencer walked over to her two friend’s rooms, they were located quite close to each other. Knocking on the door loudly she shouted, “Guys, we got to clean up this place, A’s orders also, it is filthy. This place hasn’t been cleaned since I got here.”

“Maybe if I was allowed a shower it wouldn’t be so dirty,” Aria shouted back from inside her room.

“Aria I’m coming in,” Spencer called, opening up the door she walked in, “Gosh Aria your room is a tip.”

“I’ve been busy,” Aria mumbled.

“Doing what? You have nothing to do in here,” Spencer chuckled.

“Writing, A gave me a pencil,” Aria replied.

“Let’s see,” Spencer rushed over to the book that Aria was hiding behind her back.

“I haven’t finished yet,” Aria tried to say as she kept the book pressed against her back away from Spencer.

“Please,” Spencer pouted, “I’ve been reading the same book over and over again.”

“First page only,” Aria decided, “I’m going to make sure Emily is awake if we have to clear up this mess she sure of hell has to watch us.”

Spencer squealed and opened the notebook, sat down on Arias bed and started to read the first page.

“Em!” Aria banged on the swimmer's door, “Get up.”

“Do I have to, I’m injured remember,” Emily pointed out.

“You don’t get to use that excuse, anyway we are only making you watch us clean you don’t have to do anything,” Aria replied.

Emily poked her head out the door, “Ok cool what room are we starting in?”

“Games room, it's where we have spent the most time,” Aria replied, “Spence put the book down, and come help.”

Aria went over to the trolley and started pushing it across the corridor, “Spencer, please take the vacuum.”

Spencer picked up the wireless vacuum and headed after the girls with a skip in her step.

“Your happy Spence,” Emily pointed out.

“Just glad to see you guys,” Spencer responded, “Also, like nothing bad has happened since you got here. Well like really bad the food situation is still lacking a lot.”

“I haven’t had that problem,” Emily replied sheepishly.

“Well, A can’t play with their dolls if they are broken” Spencer shuddered.

“Although, you say nothing bad but I’m still not sure if Hanna was a hallucination or not,” Emily commented worriedly.

“No one has seen her, you were in a car crash and still kind of out of it when I saw you,” Spencer sighed, “We shouldn’t worry about things we can’t control.”

Aria and Spencer started to clean up the room while Emily relaxed on one of the chairs.

“Spence, could you finish reciting the book you have to us. Kind of want to know how it ends,” Aria asked.

Spencer recited the chapters of the story while the girls worked, it made all the effort seem to take less time.

One they finished with the games room they went and started with the kitchen, the shower and the dining room. The medical room and other doors were still locked.

“Right, Emily’s room next,” Spencer decided, “Then we can clean Arias mess, then mine if we have enough time.”

The girls continued cleaning in silence, Spencer had finished reciting the book in the time it had taken to clean up most of the bunker.

Once the girls had finished cleaning they put back all the supplies on the trolley and placed it back in the corridor. They expected the speaker to ask them to return to their rooms but instead, it told them to go to the kitchen.

“Wait, we are allowed out still,” Aria questioned, “This is new.”

“Maybe because we have been good and done what A told us to do…” Spencer proclaimed taking Aria by her arm and leading the group to the room.

Opening the door, they noticed something was on the table.

“Well, that wasn’t there before…” Emily uttered.

Going over to the table the three girls realised it was a newspaper dated a few days after Spencer had gone missing.

Spencer picked up the article, her smiling face printed on the front page. Under the newspaper was a large upside down photo frame.

Spencer felt herself starting to feel heavy. She lowered herself into one of the chairs and started to read the article.

“Local girl Spencer Hasting was reported missing by police on the 17th March, the Rosewood girl had been connected to the murder of Mona Vanderwaal,” Spencer read out loud sniffling, “The police refused to say if the two cases were connected.”

Emily and Aria both stayed silent, they had watched all the news about Spencer’s disappearance but hadn’t told the brunette much about it.

“Well that’s classy, I disappear and the papers just to the conclusion I ran away because I murdered Mona,” Spencer muttered with tears in her eyes. The newspaper was just another constant reminded that she wasn’t able to save the small girl.

“Spence. You don’t have to keep reading,” Aria butted in.

“No. No, I want to,” Spencer replied still scanning the news article. Spencer paused as she reached the end of a paragraph, “Police officers say they have no leads.”

“Spence, Toby found something a few days later that he was looking into. He hadn’t given up on you,” Aria tried to comfort the girl.

“Aria,” Emily whispered to her friend, “It came up in a dead end when I went missing they were stuck. They had no clues.”

Aria sighed, “Don’t tell her that, she needs the hope,” Aria whispered back.

Spencer picked up the photo frame that was under the newspaper and turned it around. On the glass covering A had stuck a post-it note with the message. “For the hallway. A”

Spencer suddenly realised what it meant, her stomach felt sick from the realisation. This was just one of A’s achievements that they wanted to hang up on the wall for all to see. A constant reminder of what had happened.

Spencer got up from her chair clutching the photo frame in her hand, “I am not one of your stupid achievements that you can just hang on your wall, I am a real life person. I am not one of your dolls,” the girl screamed at the camera.

“Spence, stop calm down,” Aria tried to stop the girl from making and stupid mistakes.

In a fit of rage Spencer took the photo frame she was holding and threw it across the room and watched the glass smash and fall to the floor. The destruction giving her a small sense of happiness.

“Spencer!” Aria exclaimed as the room was plunged into darkness. The quiet hum of the generator turned off leaving the girls in silence.

“Look what you have done!” Emily shouted, “You have angered the beast.”

“The powers off that should mean all the doors should be unlocked as they are all electromagnetic.” Spencer piped up, almost proud of herself.

The girls stumble over the furniture in the room as they tried to escape in the darkness, the unfamiliar room made it hard to manure in the pitch black.

“Is it just me or is it getting cold in here,” Aria commented as she started to shiver. The temperature in the room had started to drop rapidly.”

“Guys, the camera is still on,” Emily noticed, the small red light still flickered in the darkness, “doesn’t that mean there is still power on,”

“Just keep moving, I think I’ve found the door,” Spencer called out.

“Where are you guys, I can’t see a thing,” Aria asked panicking.

“Just come to my voice,” Spencer called from the doorway.

The conversation was broken was a loud high pitch scream.

“Emily!” Spencer called out. The screams became muffled and lead into nothing but silence.

“Aria?” Spencer yelled out. There was no reply from the petite girl either, “Where are you.”

Spencer started to back against the wall, she raised her arms to try and defend against their kidnappers which seemed to be in the same room as them.

Spencer started to cough, a thick smoke seemed to consume the air around her proving it more and more difficult to breathe by the second. She started to feel lightheaded, coughing Spencer collapsed on the floor still trying to defend herself. Her head started to spin before she felt herself being consumed by the darkness.


	15. Chapter 15

The Police officer watched as Emily drove off in her car to Hanna’s house. It wasn't protocoled to follow the girls when they were going to each other’s houses or when they were going to school as they knew there would be police protection located there.

Officer Jenny Foster took a sip of her coffee that she had been keeping warm in her thermos, she looked over at her young partner who was taking a bite out of his dinner.

“So… does that mean we are off duty,” the new recruit asked.

“Not quite, Officer Sanders,” Jenny sighed as she took another sip of her coffee, “We need to wait for the other police protection unit calls to say she arrived alright and tells us what her plans for the night are. If she is planning to stay, there then we can ask the chief for the night off.”

 “What are the chances we get the night off?” Officer Owen questioned.

“Seriously junior, got something better to be doing. You haven’t been working at the station long. You shouldn’t be acting this way about the job,” Jenny voiced.

“Sorry Mam, my boyfriend is just having to cook for himself since I’m out and let’s just say he isn’t very good at cooking, last time I had to throw out the frying pan and we nearly had the fire department around,” Owen replied apologetically.

Jenny sighed, “let’s just see what Ms Fields is doing before we start making dinner plans.”

The two cops stayed in silence for fifteen minutes waiting for the other police car to call in it. There was no response.

“Shouldn’t they off called it in by now,” Owen questioned, “The Marin residence isn’t that far from here, and there is no way there is traffic on the roads this late.”

“You're right,” Jenny replied pressing down her button on her police radio, “Paul, Ben do you read me.”

There was nothing but radio silence on the other end.

“Paul? Ben? Are you there, I repeat are you there respond.” Jenny repeated slightly panicked, “Owen, call up the station to see if they can get hold of them.”

Owen clicked on his police radio, “Hey, have Paul or Ben called in we can’t get hold of them, they are meant to be on petrol night at the Marins.”

“One sec let me check,” the voice over the radio replied. A few seconds of silence followed following by a haunting reply, “They aren’t responding. We will send over a police car to check on them, don’t panic I'm sure it’s nothing.”

“Right, were going round,” Jenny decided.

“What, no. The station said they would send someone over,” Owen protested.

“We are meant to be watching over Ms Fields, if the other petrol team isn’t responding then I just sent her out with no protection, we are going.”

Officer Foster started the car up, the engine roared to life. Turning the car around she followed Emily tracks.

Driving along the roads she turned the corner and got into view of the remains of the wrecked vehicle that had been abandoned on the road.

“Owen, call an ambulance, it looks like a hit and runs,” Jenny spoke rushing closer to the scene.

The Police officer got out of her vehicle and dashed over to the side door of the derelict vehicle. She crouched down and looked through the smashed window of the car.

“No one is in there...” she sighed realising the girl wasn’t seriously injured.

“What do you mean no one is here, this looks serious. It doesn’t look like she could have just walked away from this,” Owen commented concerned.

Jenny looked around trying to spot and sign of life, the road was abandoned.

“Try calling the hospital to see if anyone has been emitted following her description, there’s a chance whoever crashed into her took her to the hospital,” Jenny replied trying not to fear the worse, “I’ll call to the station and report this in, we need more help with this.”

After a few minutes the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance flashing towards the scene, Owen had been on the phone with the hospital but no one with Emily’s description had been emitted, he waited patiently on the end of the phone waiting for any more news as she could off have arrived there since he had called.

“Owen,” Officer Jenny called, “The driver’s side is smashed in and the girl is missing, Officer Paul and Ben are not responding. I hate to say this but I think we should presume this to be more than a simple hit and run. I think this was on purpose.”

The police cars pulled up beside the scene.

“What happened?” A voice called out.

“Toby, you shouldn’t be here,” Jenny tried to protest.

“Like hell, I shouldn’t. What happened here!?” Toby shouted, more officers followed out of their cars looking at the car wreck.

“The vehicle belongs to Emily Fields,” Officer Foster started to explain, “she told us that she was going round to Hanna Marins house due to a panic attack. We waited for the police protection unit to call in that she had arrived. When they didn’t we radioed in, they are not replying. We decided to go to the Marin residence ourselves when we came across the car wrecked in the middle of the road. Emily fields or the vehicle that crashed into her is nowhere to be found.”

Muttering could be heard across the group of officers, they all started to presume the worst, that the girl had followed in her friend’s footsteps.

“Right, we need all the CCTV cameras in the area monitored, we need an analyst down here. I want this scene completely searched for any information about who did this,” A voice commanded, “Get the officers that have gone to check on the other protection unit on the line, I need to know what Happened.”

Meanwhile, at the Marin residence, the officers had just arrived at the scene. Nothing seemed too out of place.

“Wait in the car,” A tall officer told the driver.

Getting out he strolled over the to the parked police car and knocked on the window. He noticed that the door was slightly opened as if someone hadn’t shut it properly.

He swung open the door and looked inside, “for goodness sake, wake up!” he shouted at the two unconscious officers.

The smaller officer got out the vehicle and sauntered over to the taller officer.

“Paul, wake up,” the taller officer shouted, there was no response. Taking the officer by the shoulders he started the shake the poor unconscious man.

“Go check on the girl,” the officer commanded to his smaller counterpart as he checked the officers still had a pulse.

The officer scurried over to the door of the Marin house and started banging loudly.

“Dispatch, the officers at the Marin household are not responding, we need backup,” the tall officers spoke into his radio, “Kick the door down, we need to know if the girl is alright or not. Now!”

The smaller officer kicked the door open, pulling out his firearm he started to enter the house. He looked across the landing, there had been a struggle. Scuff marks were on the floor and 2 lukewarm cups of brew had been left on the side.

The officer continued throughout the house calling the young girls name. Eventually, he exited the house, a worried expression on his face, “She’s not here.”

One of the officers started to stir, their head pounding from a killer headache.”

“What’s happening,” Owen started to say, his speech slightly slurred. Looking over he saw his partner still knocked out. He reached out and whacked his friend on his side. Paul didn’t move.

“Why won’t Paul wake up,” the officer commented obviously confused.

“Owen, what is the last thing you can remember,” the tall officer questioned the slightly out of it man.

“We were watching the house, drinking coffee,” the officer responded rubbing his head with his hand, “Where’s Hanna?”

“Ms Marin isn’t inside the residence,” the tall officer reported.

“What,” Owen exclaimed as he tried to open his car door and stumbled out across the driveway.

“Careful, it seems like you have been under the influence or something. Sit back down, there are officers and an ambulance on its way.

Many officers turned up onto the scene, the Marin household was thoroughly searched. Two mobile phones one belonging to Hanna and one belonging to Emily had been found. The Police knew at that point what had happened. The same thing that had happened to their friends.

The hospital had done a drugs tests on the two patrol officers and had found drugs in their system. The same drug that had been slipped into their coffee’s which they had brought at the brew before heading out for petrol.

Officers were working overtime to try and put all the pieces together and collect all the evidence before they let the madman that was doing this getaway. They knew the longer the girls were missing the harder it would be to find out what happened to them.

Ms Fields, after hearing the commotion of sirens and seeing the petrol car missing had ventured out to see what the fuss was about. She saw the wrecked vehicle and automatically recognised it. Breaking down into tears Toby rushed over to her trying to comfort her. Trying to say it would be ok, that they would find her, but even he knew the chances of that happening were becoming slimmer and slimmer.


	16. Chapter 16

Spencer started to wake up, her body still trying to reject that cloudy substance that had surrounded her in the corridor. Spencer opened her eyes, finding herself in a completely new room she tried to get up of the chair and desk that she seemed to be slumped over.

Trying to stumble to rise from the chair she noticed one of her wrists chained to the table, her eyes sight was still foggy but she tried to make out the display that had been presented before her. Straining her eyes, she could make out 3 switches. Under them lay 3 photos.

Spencer’s eyesight started to clear but her head still felt like a car had smashed into it. She could make out more clearly the three photos. She gasped as she realised what they were off. One for each girl that was trapped down in the dollhouse.

The first photo was of Aria, she looked so defiant like she wasn’t going to give up. The photo had obviously been taken on one of the first few days that she had been kept prisoner her. Before her passion of revolting had begun to fade away as she had realised there was nothing she was able to do to escape.

The second photo was of Emily, she looked so pale, so frightened. There were visible wounds from where she had been in her car crash. Spencer could recognise how the girl had become stronger and better since she had first been dragged into the hellhole of the dollhouse.

The last photo was of herself, she recognised the walls of the backdrop, the blood ripped t-shirt she was wearing. She whimpered as her the memories of Mona were pushed to the front of her mind. Taking another glance, she realised there was no photo of Hanna, maybe A hadn’t managed to get her yet and Emily’s hallucination was only a hallucination.

Taking a look around the room she noticed a bare lightbulb swinging slightly overhead, the floors and walls were bare apart from one wall that seemed to be covered with the blackened police window that allowed whoever was watching her too look in but for her never to be able to see their face. The whole set up of the room screamed a police interrogation room.

Staring at the floor she noticed it slightly decline inwards towards the centre of the room, checking underneath the desk was strapped to she saw a drain with water puddled around it. She gulped wondering if this room had been used before and the drain was needed to wash away the bloody remains.

Spencer stayed in silence staring at the blackened glass presuming her kidnapper was standing behind it laughing.

The dreaded voice filled the room from the speaker, “Pick one, or all will suffer.”

Spencer sat there confused, what was going to happen to the person she picked. She tried to run through her options of what she could do.

“Choice one or all will suffer,” the voice boomed again, “10…”

“Great,” Spencer thought, “A countdown that’s what a really need.”

“9…”

“Right,” Spencer thought, “There is no chance I can pick Emily for whatever this is, she is too weak. If A cut of her food supply then there be no chance her injury’s will heal, or A might just make them worse.”

“8… 7…”

“So that leaves me or Aria then.” Spencer continued to think, “I really don’t want to have to deal with whatever is coming, she will understand won’t she if I make her take one for the team?”

“6… 5…”

“Wait no,” Spencer realised, “I can’t do that. That would make me such a horrible friend, she would never forgive me. A is trying to make me turn into them.”

“4… 3…”

Spencer looked down at her broken body, breathing in gently she knew which leaver she had to pull. The only one which would protect her friends.

“2…”

Spencer quickly reached over and pulled her own leaver, dreading what was about to happen. The countdown stopped. Nothing seemed to happen for ages, the silence scared her more. Not knowing what was about to happen.

The door to the room creaked open, the outsides of the room looked like the same style of the corridor that seemed to link the underground maze together. A walked in, there face covered. There was no chance of recognising who their kidnapper really was, even if they knew the person in real life.

In their hands A carried a bucket of iced water and in their other a handheld Taser, Spencer got out of her chair and tried to back away from the looming figure that was coming towards her.

From the other side of the glass sat the small figure of Aria, she had watched the whole event being carried out. He hands and feet shackled to the chair she was forced to sit on and her only choice to look forward wide-eyed at her friend as she watched A getting closer and closer. She tried to scream and scream Spencer’s name as she saw the fear enter the girl’s eyes, only to realise that she couldn’t hear her as the girl didn’t even flinch. She was completely helpless in what was about to happen.

The figure got closer and closer to Spencer, each footstep creating more fear in the girl. Spencer had backed away as much as she could due to wrist being contained on the table that was locked down onto the floor.

Both girls screamed as the ice cold water drenched Spencer and her relatively clean and non-destroyed clothes. Both the girls were clever enough to know how the water would make the shock so much worse.

Aria remembered back to when A had first taken her from her home, she remembered the volts of electricity that zipped through her body leaving her feeling paralysed. She watched as she knew what was about to happen.

Spencer tried to close her eyes she knew what was coming but if she didn’t see it maybe it wouldn’t make it so bad, but knowing what was coming still terrified her. Aria couldn’t look away, she needed to make sure that her friend was ok. She needed to know that she was going to survive the ordeal.

Aria flinched, she couldn’t deal with watching any longer, the sounds of her friends screams as the taser pressed against her skin was enough to know she was still alive but in immense pain.

Spencer lay on the floor her arm held up by the table above her, she tried to gasp for air in between the screams of pains. The pain simmered down as she realised A had stopped playing with their taser. She opened her eyes opening the torture was over.

Standing over her with the looming figure, looking down at her with such hatred. The figure raised their leg and stomped down hard on Spencer’s arm that was dangling down. Spencer let out the most blood-curdling scream as she felt her arm pop out of the socket.

She lay there in pain unable to move, tears added to the wetness of her face. Laying there perfectly still she felt A unlocking the shackled that had kept her wrist in place as her arm was left to fall limply to her side pain radiating through her arm as it did so.

A continued to beat Spencer up, kicking her in the back, adding to the increasing pain that covered the whole of her body. A went round to start kicking her in the stomach before they paused. It looked like they were receiving instructions through an earpiece that they were not allowed to hit her there.

Aria opened her eyes, she saw her friend on the floor in pain but she was helpless to do anything to help her. She tried to free herself from the shackles but they just rubbed against her skin.

A left the room leaving the door open as they did so. Spencer only suspected that they would return with a worse way to beat her so just lay there motionless trying to stop the tears that were covering up the pain she felt. What felt like hours passed, Aria was still watching from the other side of the glass.

Spencer tried to get up to move, every small movement sent waves of pain through her body. Slowly she crawled up the table for support and whimpered slowly making her way to the door. She recognised the corridor as the main one that her room was connected to. She spotted the photo frame that had been hanged on the wall. Showing the achievement that was herself.

She stared down the corridor and saw her room was open, she stumbled across the corridor careful to not knock her dislocated shoulder. Entering her room, she collapsed exhausted on the bed.


	17. Chapter 17

Hanna had been left alone from the other girls for the past week, time seemed to of stopped for the girl as she was covered for most hours in the day in darkness. The only times she had seen some light was when A had come into the room. She shivered every time the figure came close to here, but she had stopped resisting and try to fight back she knew that it was pointless.

She just kept trying to focus on her friends and family, hoping that they were alright.

On the second night of being locked up, A had come into her room with a stool, just sitting in front of her staring, memorising every detail of her face as if it had been the first time they had every really seen it. They had just sat far enough away so that Hanna wasn’t able to reach them since her arms and legs were chained up. This hadn’t, however, stopped her from trying to lash out when it looked like they may have been close enough.

When it seemed like they had finally had enough staring into her scared blue eyes, they had left leaving a jug of water before submerging Hanna once again in the darkness.

On the fourth day A returned, they had tried to get closer to Hanna’s quaking body. After a few minutes of Hanna staying completely still, they got slightly closer. Hanna could almost feel them breathe on her skin. She could stand it anymore; she couldn’t let herself be so helpless.

She struck, swinging her hand around from where they were chained together, the punch landing on A’s covered face causing them to stagger backwards. They stared at her, almost judging the situation.

Hanna had felt all the power in that moment, she saw her tormentor staring her right in the face and she knew she had to do it, at that moment she didn’t even think of any of the consequences, of what they would do to her. The darkness that she had been left in with the unknowingness had already left her uneased.

After a minute A went and left the room, the door left - swung open. Hanna gulped she knew she was in trouble. She had thought about the blood stains that were left on the wall and where they had come from while she had been trapped there.

A came back in a while later dragging a large bucket in front of Hanna. Hanna stopped and looked down into the murky water her heart started to pound as she felt her kidnapper grab her by the back of the hair before she felt herself being plunged into the dirty water. Her arms were held back from being restrained close to the wall.

Hanna tried with all her body strength to fight back, to get out of the water. Her eyes burned and she felt water rushing up her nose causing her to start to gag which only made is worse and she tried to open her mouth to breathe but all that came through was the liquid. Thinking she was about to die she tried to thrash out more before she was pulled up by the back of her hair and thrown against the wall, spluttering out all the water that had attacked her mouth and nose.

After she had coughed out most of the water she collapsed on the group, gasping for breath. The figure watched her struggling for life before they finally bent down to reach for the back of her head again.

“Please, please. I’ll be good, I’ll be good,” Hanna begged knowing she didn’t have the energy to go through that again.

A sniggered but backed away, they didn’t want to kill their precious doll, after all, they had only just got her.

Pulling away from the bucket they once again left the room, closing the door Hanna was once again left in darkness.

The day after A had visited again, Hanna didn’t resist when they stroked her cheek and whispered in her ear. She was too scared at what could happen if she didn’t comply with what A was doing. At the end of the short visit A left, leaving her with a pitcher of water and the small glow of candle light that flicked for a few hours before finally burning off.

For the whole of the week Hanna felt completely alone, she hadn’t heard Emily since the first night where her screams had tortured her. Then she had heard different screams, she recognised them immediately, the girl that had been missing from her life for nearly a month.

Hanna felt almost relief that her friend was still alive, she had been so sure if it had been anyone’s blood that had stained the walls of her cell it would have been Spencer’s since she had been trapped here the longest. Even so, the screams scared her, they were long full of pain. All Hanna wanted to do was scream out for it to stop, she wasn’t sure that it was even real anymore of just the fact she had gone crazy while in solitary.

A had managed to break her beyond what she thought was even imaginable, she could dare to think what Spencer would have had to deal with her being locked away for much longer than her.

Hanna stayed in the darkness, motionless. She didn’t bother to cup her hands over of ears to stop the screaming. She felt empty like all the hope she had once had drained away and left her with a lifeless body. She stared straight ahead at what would be the door waiting for her attacker to finally come back and put an end to her torment.

The screams had stopped and the bunker had gone silent once again. A came back for Hanna, she didn’t fear what was going to come next she just wanted it to all be over.

The figure bent down next to her motionless body stroking her on the cheek telling her to be a good doll for them. Her mind barely noticed the chains that bounded her ankles together being removed or the chain that held her wrists together being separated from the lock that tied her to the wall. Her hands stayed clasped together as the figure yanked up her body by the chains that still bound her wrists together.

Trying to stay on her feet she silently followed the figure, half being dragged along the brightly lit corridor that had stayed outside of her prison. They passed through one door into another corridor, it was dimly lit all the doors on its sides were locked shut. Trembling and tripping over her feet she has pulled along to a room at the end of the corridor.

Her kidnapper opened the door and revealed a replica of the girl’s bedroom. It made Hanna home sick looking at the room as she was shoved inside viciously.

A slammed the door locking it behind her. Hanna went over and collapsed on her bed, the new look of her prison cell made her stomach sick as all she could think of was how much she wanted to be at home, safe, away from all of this being cuddled by her mom as they both watched a cheesy romantic movie together.

Despite not having drunken anything for the past two days Hanna managed to let out a tear as she caught hold of a newspaper that had been laid on her bed.

The front article, the missing girls of Rosewood. She held onto the newspaper with her cuffed hands she tried to wipe away a tear to read the article.

The article spoke of the four girls and the details into their disappearance. It mentioned their connection to the late Mona Vanderwaal then it went on to mention how to family’s had been copying.

Hanna’s heart stopped as she came to the news about her mom. She shook, crying as she read that she had grown ill with worry and had to be emitted to the hospital.

Slowly Hanna curled up onto the bed, it was much more comfier than the cold damp floor she had been sleeping on for the past week. Pretty soon she had fallen asleep.


	18. Chapter 18

“She’s innocent, what part of that don’t you understand,” Mr Hastings shouted across the police station, “Stop treating her and her friends just ran away.”

“Mr Hastings, please just calm down,” Officer Sanders tried to hush the frustrated man, “we are doing everything in our power to try and find out what happened to the girls.”

“Well you aren’t doing a good enough job, it has been a month since my daughter went missing and you don’t seem to be any closer in your investigation. Instead, you let 3 more girls get kidnapped too!” Mr Hastings continued to shout.

“Mr Hastings,” Toby piped in as he heard the man shouting, “please, just come with me.”

“Fine,” Mr Hastings huffed as he followed Toby out of the room.

“I have some information, me Caleb and Ezra have been doing some digging of our own and we need to put some of the information out in the open,” Toby started to explain.

“What information toby?” Mr Hastings inquired intrigued.

“I can’t go into this here. Can you come over to Caleb’s place with Mrs Hastings tonight,” Toby explained his voice hushed.

Mr Hastings nodded, “we will come round in a few hours”

The boys huddled around the computer at Caleb’s apartment.

“So, we are definably telling them right. Cause once we do this we can’t go back,” Caleb asked.

“We need to, we have hit a dead end we need someone else to go through all this information,” Toby explained, “The police aren’t going to believe us unless we have some proper hard evidence.”

The boys turned their heads as they heard someone knocking at the door.

“So that will be them then, “Ezra stated as he walked over to the door to let them in. Opening the door, he saw the concerned looks that were resting on the stressed Hasting parents.

“So, what is this thing you need to tell us about?” Mr Hastings asked clearly impatient.

“Please come inside, sit down.” Ezra gestured.

The parents sat down on the sofa, holding their breath to hear what the information that couldn’t off been told to them at the police station.

“Would you like any coffee, tea?” Toby asked.

“No just, please tell us,” Mrs Hastings spoke out.

Toby took in a deep breath, “A’s back, and has been for a while.”

“What no that’s not possible, A was Mona. Mona is dead,” Mrs Hastings expressed confused and angry.

“Yes, while A was originally Mona someone took over the job when she was in Radley. We know A has the girls.” Toby continued.

“Why couldn’t we see what was happening to out poor baby,” Veronica started to weep, “how could we not piece this all together and see what was happening ourselves. Oh god, I’m a failure as a mother.”

Toby put his hand on Mrs Hastings shoulder and tried to comfort her.

Mr Hastings sat there stuck, after a few moments of silence he spoke up, “Why haven’t you told the police about this?”

“A has left a message clearly stating what would happen if we did that,” Toby explained sadness on his face.

“What was it?” Mr Hastings asked.

“If we tell, Spencer dies,” Toby expressed as he watched the horror filled their faces, “We don’t have enough evidence to get the police to listen anyway, A has destroyed the evidence so many times.”

“This is all the evidence we have,” Ezra butted in pointing to the piles of boxes, “We need help, new eyes on all of it. Help to try and find something we can use.”

“Of course we will help, I want out daughter back,”

“I have to warn you, though; those boxes contain every secret that has been kept hidden. Including ones about you,”

The Hastings expressed worried looks to each other.

“We still have to do this, we have to get Spencer back,”

The group spent the next few hours searching and organising the boxes, searching for any incriminating evidence the Hastings could use their law magic on.

Over the past week since Hanna’s and Emily’s disappearance the town had been on high alert. There had been many searches through the woods and outskirts of town that had been organised by Mrs Montgomery. She had spent her time trying to keep herself busy at it had been the only thing keeping her sane since her daughter had disappeared without a trace 3 weeks before.

The town was littered with missing posters of the four girls, it resembled the town after the disappearance of Alison. Rumours had spread round like wildfire with theories about what had happened to the girls and the similarities between their disappearance and the disappearance of their friend.

Mrs Marin had spent the past few days in the hospital, the stress of the whole situation had made her ill.

 

Mr Fields had returned home from his military base, he had been granted leave to help deal with the difficult situation they were in. Mrs Fields had spent many hours isolating herself trying to go over all the events that had happened.

She remembered finding out about the crash, the sirens that filled the air. The sight as she pulled her car up to the crash site.

The police blocked off the car crash as they had investigated, they hadn’t heard any information of a young girl following Emily’s description being brought into the hospital. The officers had found traces of blood along the road where it had dripped as she had been carried away.

There had been the largest amount of blood in the vehicle, but not enough for the police to have serious worries about potential injuries.

The skid marks that had been left had been recorded and the tyres had been put through the system to try and find a match.

After the accident the CCTV camera had been searched, most of the footage had been completely useless apart from one camera that hadn’t been tampered with. The recording showed clear footage of the car that matched the tire tracks. Immediately it had sent the police on a mad search for the vehicle.

After a few hours of searching the number plate through the database, it had been flagged up as a missing vehicle from Philadelphia. The police had sent officers to receive more information but since the accident that hadn’t received any helpful about it.


	19. Chapter 19

A few days past with the girls in isolation before A let their dolls out to play again. A had unshackled the blonde’s hands and had allowed her to explore her new prison cell properly. The doors opened as the booming voice told them overhead. “You have 10 minutes.”

Aria, Spencer and Emily scrambled out of their rooms, they missed each other dreadfully and the isolation had started to drive them slightly insane.

“You guys alright,” Spencer asked scanning the two girls.

“Are we alright, Spencer look at you,” Aria pointed out as she went to gently hug her friend.

The conversation got cut off as they heard a small voice coming from the doorway, “guys?”

The three girls turned around to see the shadow of their friend clinging against the doorframe.

“Oh my god, Hanna,” Emily expressed rushing over to try and support the girl.

“Em,” the blonde stated in disbelief, “You’re alright?”

“I’m fine,” Emily replied with confusion in her tone, the pair stopped for a second as they gazed at each other, “Was it really you in the fake hospital, were you really there?”

Hanna nodded as she saw the smile vanish from the swimmer's face, “Where have you been?”

“It was dark, I was alone. There was blood on the floor….” Hanna responded with tears in her eyes. All the girls stayed silent for a moment, “Who’s blood was that?”

Aria quickly looked to Spencer, with a desperate plea in her eye for permission to tell Hanna the truth.

“Mona’s,” Spencer stated, her face tried not to crumple up from the pain that was rushing back to her.

“What,” Hanna gasped in disbelief, “but, no, what!”

Spencer stayed in silence, overwhelmed with her emotions as she saw her friend react to the news.

“She didn’t die when we thought she did,” Aria spoke calmly, “She died a week or so after Spencer went missing.”

“What do you mean, what happened?” Hanna spoke clutching onto Emily for support.

Spencer looked at Hanna’s watering eyes, the eyes of the best friend of the girl she had killed.

“I couldn’t save her,” Spencer tried to speak as her voice cracked and tears started to swell in her eyes.

“Hey… Spence, no one is blaming you. This was not your fault,” Aria spoke supporting the girl as she reassured her with her eyes.

Hanna stopped talking and analysed the situation, she could tell that Spencer had had something to do with the situation and that Mona’s death had torn her apart. She looked at her beaten face and skinny body and decided it would be best to stop asking any questions in fear that It would cause Spencer to have a complete meltdown. After all, with only 10 minutes out no one would be there to help her after.

Hanna wiped the tears away from her eyes as she tried to say, “What’s up with this place. What is with the freaky replica bedrooms.”

“It’s not the only replica room in the dollhouse,” Spencer spoke as she tried to push her emotions away, she was the leader of the group she had to start acting strong or the others wouldn’t last.

Hanna looked at her confused, “What other rooms are replica then?”

“Spencer’s kitchen seems to be here too,” Aria replied.

“Why Spencer’s kitchen?” Hanna spoke clearly confused.

“Not sure, maybe because we spend a lot of time there especially since my parents are never there,” Spencer replied shrugging, “It’s the only other replica we have seen, saying that we haven’t even been in all the rooms yet.”

“Please just tell me there is a shower or bath, I haven’t washed in ages,” Hanna joked with a pleading look in here eye.

“Yep, there is,” Aria replied with slight annoyance, “That’s if A lets you have one, only Spence has had the privilege so far. The water runs dry for me, and well Em kind of can’t get her cast wet.”

“You just have to get used to using the sink for a wash,” Emily smiled slightly trying to put some light in the situation.

“How come Spencer has had a shower?” Hanna asked looking at the relatively cleaning girl.

“I behaved... Past tense,” Spencer replied as she grabbed her shoulder that had started to hurt.

“How are you feeling Spence?” Aria questioned realising her previous request for the information had been cut off by the appearance of Hanna, “That beating didn’t look so good.”

“You saw?” Spencer asked almost looking hurt that her friend had seen her when she had been the most vulnerable.

“A… forced me to watch,” Aria spoke her voice quiet.

Spencer took her hand of her bruised shoulder, “I have a lot of bruising around my shoulder, it hurts a lot but it’s not as bad as when I had to pop it back into place. It felt like I was going to pass out during that.”

Spencer paused then decided it would be best if she showed the full damage, she pulled up her torn shirt and processed to show the burn marks against her skin that the high voltages had caused, bruising covered parts of her back and it looked like some areas were still slightly raised.

“It’s not that bad,” Spencer commented as she looked at the girls whose eyes just showed disbelief and fear, “but it still hurts when I move or if I lie down on my back.”

The four girls stood in silence unsure of what they should say next.

“Well at least we now know A isn’t messing around,” Emily broke the tension as she tried to start the conversation up again in the limited time they had left together.

“I think we knew that when A murdered Mona,” Aria spat out angry at the whole situation that she had no control over.

“Please return to your rooms,” the speaker announced.

“Oh bite me, this hasn’t been 10 minutes,” Hanna expressed to the camera that was watching them in the corridor.

“Hanna, please we have to go. Just please go along with it, I couldn’t deal with it if you got yourself hurt,” Emily spoke hugging her friend tightly with her one good arm.

Spencer and Aria had already gone to their rooms and shut the door behind them, the idea of saying goodbye to each other scared them as they couldn’t let it be the last time that they would see each other. They had to believe they would see each other again.

Emily stopped embracing Hanna and turned away and headed to her room. “Please be good Hanna,” she whispered and she looked into the girls frightened blue eyes before the door shut behind her.

Hanna was left standing in the corridor unsure what to do, she looked into the camera with determination on her face before she walked back into her room as the door slammed shut behind her.


	20. Chapter 20

Aria lay on her bed twiddling her pencils in-between her fingers and she stared absentmindedly at the notebook that she held out in front of herself. Having been trapped in the bunker for nearly 4 weeks she had spent a lot of her time contemplating over her life.

She had to admit this one was of the crappier moments of her life, she could recall the mess that she called a life being so bad, well that was if you excluded her murdering someone, seeing her boyfriend get shot and the numerous of other occasions that people had nearly or did die.

The story that she had been writing had grown quite long since the many hours of emptiness she had to fill up somehow, she wondered if the stories she was writing would ever make it out of the bunker or if she would ever make it out with them alive.

The isolation had started to impact her more then she would off have liked to admit, Aria longed to be back in Ezra's arms safe and sound at his apartment as they watched black and white films and laughed through the funny scenes and shred and tear at the sad one while doing it all together.

However, she had realised through many thoughts that Ezra should just move on from her, she hated to admit it but she had made the writer life a mess. She had too much baggage that was getting in the way from them truly being happy together. Aria knew he would be better off without her.

The long hours alone had also given her the opportunity to try and map out the layout of the bunker and to try and figure out how they would be able to escape. She knew there must be a way in and out with A being able to disappear and reappear as much as they wanted. There were so many rooms and doorways that she was yet to discover anyone of them could be the back door.

The problem still stood although that although there may be a door out, the doors were also locked shut and the only way to unlock them if they didn't have a manual lock would be to turn off the electricity. This itself was a whole enough problem as she doubted A would have been stupid enough to keep the generator close by to their living area.

She had got to a point where she couldn't add any more sections to her detailed map, she needed Spencer's help to fill in some of the gaps in her knowledge. Trying to sneak behind A's back was hard, although the cameras were easy enough to keep hidden papers concealed from the rooms were also bugged to record all the sound so not a single word about any planned trouble could leave the liars lips.

Aria's ears perked up as the speaker in her room started to talk and the door to her room opened, "Please follow the lighted pathway."

Aria closed her notebook and put the pencil and pad on her desk. She cautiously walked over to the door and peaked out into the corridor. None of the other doors of the girls seemed to have been opened. Aria's stomach felt uneasy, she didn't particularly want to adventure out into the dollhouse without the other girls to protect her.

Looking back at the camera in her room she knew she didn't have a choice after all A did hate being disobeyed. Stepping out she followed the slow flashing lights that headed towards the kitchen. The kitchen door was slightly agar so Aria took that as a suggestion that it's where A wanted to her to head to.

Stepping into the kitchen she felt like she was in a different world, it felt so weird it being decorated like the Hastings household. The bedroom she could get her head around but the kitchen looked like she had never Rosewood.

Aria's eyes darted over the kitchen counter where she saw a pile of ingredients, hungrily she rushed over before she saw the note that had been attached to them.

"Cook me an amazing dinner, and I'll consider rewarding you. A"

So, the food wasn't for her after all although the idea of being rewarded left a smile on Aria's face. Even the small positive things that now happened in the dollhouse felt like huge accomplishments or rewards. It was funny how having everything stripped from you gives you a new sense of value. She pondered for a moment to think about what the reward might consist of, the first thing that struck her mind was the shower. Being allowed to wash the grub out of her hair and body felt like the biggest reward that A would be willing to give her.

Sitting down on the stool she looked over the ingredients until she spotted a recipe that was folded up amongst them.

"Lasagne," she spoke out loud, "How hard can this be."

Although Aria had hardly spent any time in her kitchen cooking over the years she had managed to make a few meals which had included making her family lasagne. This time she just had to make sure to take it out of the oven before the fire alarm starts to blare out.

Getting up she walked over to the sink and started to wash up and down her arms and hands, the whole experience would end badly if A managed to get sick because of her cooking. That would only lead to more trouble for the girls.

"Right so the ingredients, beef," she thought as she scanned the selection of edibles in front of her, "check, Olive oil – check, Tomato source, stock, check and check, grated nutmeg? Well, that definably wasn't in my recipe last time but here it is. Prosciutto. What the hell is that?" scanning the items her eyes fell upon the ingredient, "um… must be this ham type thing. Right, what's next, lasagne sheets, mozzarella, ragu source and white source? Well, I can see the sheets and the cheese, but white source? I think I might have to make that too."

Carefully she studied through the method before she took in a deep breath and started to carefully follow it. "Ok first make the source… well all I have left is butter, milk and flour and that seems right but what quantities. This is going to be much harder than I originally thought."

After quite a while of throwing ingredients together, Aria had conducted what seemed to taste like a good white source, she hoped that A didn't mind her trying some. Not only did she want to make sure that the meal tasted good but she was also especially hungry herself and the site of food had only made the feeling in her stomach worse.

Opening the packet of beef, she looked at its containments, she had never cooked meat herself considering she was a vegetarian but it seemed like A didn't have the same care for animals as she did. "This can't kill you if this isn't cooked, enough, right?" She asked out loud to herself, "pretty sure that's chicken with the semolina thing."

After a while, the beef darkened and it looked like it was cooking, she swiftly added the prosciutto, tomato, stock and nutmeg to the cooking pan and watched the food sizzling away. Stepping back, she looked at the recipe, "leave to cook for 30 minutes."

Looking around she tried to spot a clock in the room which she could use to see when she needed to carry on cooking, there was none. She checked through the draws although there was still no timer. "Guess I'm having to try and guess when it's done then, A is really going all out of town with this whole time distortion thing, is it even lunch or dinner time out in the real world?"

"Right lets' just get the rest of the stuff sorted for when this meat is done," she thought.

Turing on the oven she found an oven proof serving dish that was hiding away in one of the many empty cupboards, giving it a quick wash out with water she left it upside down to try and dry.

After the meat had finished cooking she carried out the next instructions. Layering the meat, ragu source, sheets and white source on top of each other in multiple layers before she finally finished it off on the top with the remaining slices of prosciutto and mozzarella.

Putting it in the oven she started to try and figure out how long 45 minutes would take in distorted time. During the time, she kept opening the oven she checks on how cooked it was. After an hour, she figures it had been left in for long enough. The fact that she had kept opening the oven to check on it had left a lot of the heat out which has prolonged the finished product.

Carefully she served up the meal on a plate that had been left on the side and waited for her to be given any more instructions. She looked over at the leftovers and wondered if the others would taste any of her creation.

The speaker boomed overhead for her to return to her room. After she had left a group of hooded figures entered the room, armed with some extra plates and cutlery they consumed most of the lasagne before deciding to give the scraps of leftovers to the girls, although excluding Aria as although was hungry still wouldn't eat any meat.

After a few hours of being in her room Aria head the hatch at the bottom of her door being opened and a fresh clean towel being thrown in across the floor. Aria squealed in delight as she realised that she would finally be able to clean of all the dirt on her skin that had accumulated over the past month.


	21. Chapter 21

Aria felt fresh and clean, she has managed to clean off all the grime that had accumulated and was out her clothes. There was a small bar of soap in the shower which she had used to scrub out most of the muck. Aria felt like herself a bit more, she felt like she had a bit more control of the whole situation even if she and her friends were still locked in an underground bunker.

It was over a week before the girls were let out again at the same time, they had all been let out separately once or twice mainly to fill up their jug once again with water so they didn’t die of dehydration. After all, slowly dying wouldn’t be any fun for their capture.

The doors buzzed opened and gradually the girls started to emerge from their bedrooms. The girls embraced, looking at each other waiting for the first person to speak.

“How have you managed?” Em spoke out, clutching the cast on her arm slightly. The look on her face making it seem like she was hardly holding on.

“What do you mean?” Aria asked confused, “You’ve been the one that’s been getting three meals a day.”

“I mean boredom wise,” Emily quickly answered, she didn’t know how Aria knew about her meal quantity. She thought to herself that it could have been A, trying to get the girls under each other’s skin. Wanting then to turn on each other as it was unfair how they were being treated in comparison, “Wait, how many meals do you get a day?”

“One, if I am lucky,” Aria replied avoiding direct eye contact, “I mean it’s fine, it’s only because of your arm after all. A can’t play with a broken doll.”

“I’ve been getting 2 a day, I think,” Spencer quietly said.

Aria looked slightly hurt, after all, that had happened even though Spencer has a complete meltdown which had led to her being beaten she still had managed to get more food than the petite girl.

“Well, looks like someone is A’s favourite then,” Hanna tried to joke but the comment didn’t even create a smile.

“I have my writing,” Aria started to say, answering Emily’s previous question about boredom.

“I’ve slept, a lot” Hanna answered, “Pretty sure I’ve caught up on all the sleep I have lost because of having to get up early for school.”

“While I have been reading a lot,” Spencer commented, “I’ve been given a few more books, the late birthday present I presume. I wonder if A would permit me to share some of them with you guys?”

“OMG, Happy belated birthday Spence, “Hanna nearly shouted in excitement, “I can’t believe I forgot.”

“It’s fine Hanna, there was a lot happening,” Spencer replied smiling slightly at the girl that had for a split moment forgotten that she was trapped, “Wait, Aria you're clean?”

The girls quickly all looked at Aria who stood there without the patches of grime that had clung to her skin before.

“Yeah, I finally was allowed to shower,” Aria told,” A reward for cooking A a meal. I presume it went down well.”

“I’m pretty sure prisoners get more entertainment than I do,” Emily moaned.

“Well, just tell that to Ali,” Hanna retorted, “I’m pretty sure she is still locked up over Mona’s murder.”

“How did our lives become so complicated,” Spencer asked letting put a big sigh after.

The girls stood there in silence, trying to remember back to the last time that their lives were normal.

“Does anyone know what the date is?” Hanna asked trying to break the silence.

“25th I think,” Aria voiced. The petite brunette was only a day of the real date even though time was very distorted, “I’ve been keeping a tally.”

“I could off have sworn It has been longer than that,” Hanna joined in complexed about the predicament they had found themselves in.

“It’s been about 11 days since the newspaper,” Aria told counting the days on her fingers.

“11?” Spencer looked confused, “No, no, I swear It has only been a couple of days maybe 3 or 4 since that happened.”

“Spence, have you been taking the pills?” Aria asked the clearly panicked girl as she realised Spencer hadn’t been receiving more meals then both herself and Hanna but she just hadn’t been awake for most of it.

“Yeah,” Spencer replied as she tried to put together the pieces of what her friend was hinting.

“Any chance some of them were sleeping pills?” Aria questioned looking the girl in the face.

“I mean, they did, but look. I couldn’t off have missed that many days out.”

“Wait, who here hasn’t been taking any pills?” Hanna asked looking quickly round at the girls.

Aria raised her hand slightly so it stood next to her head. Looking around she saw the rest of her friends whose hands were still hanging by their sides.

“So, I think we can presume Aria is probably the most correct with the dates,” Hanna affirmed, “So that would make it the 25th. Which means Aria has been missing for about a month now, Spencer like 5 and half weeks. While Em and I have been missing, 18 days… Any the police still seem to have no clue where on earth we could be.”

“Well that’s great,” Aria spoke, “I bet that isn’t even correct, though, time gets really distorted when you are in isolation. It’s such a horrible thing to use in prisons I’m sure there not meant to be trying to make them insane.”

“How long do you think A will let us out for?” Emily questioned, the hours alone with nothing to do had started to drive her crazy and she longed for someone she could do to keep her mind busy so it wouldn’t just turn to mush.

“I’m not sure,” Spencer spoke giving Emily a little shoulder squeeze, “probably just long enough so we all don’t go crazy from all the isolation.”

“Want to have a game of cards then, I really need something to get my brain going,” Emily supposed, “It’s almost sad about how much I’m missing school.”

“God, I’m going to have so much to catch up on when we get out of here,” Aria moaned.

“If we ever get out...” Spencer whispered under her breathe.

“Let me just get my jug and fill it up with water,” Hanna commented, “I’m nearly out.”

“Actually, Han. Could you fill it up and bring it to the games room in case we get thirsty while we are there.”

Hanna quickly fetched the near empty mug from her duplicate bedroom and filled it up with the drinkable water in the kitchen. The girls then proceeded towards the games room.

Opening the door, the hanging light flickered on.

“Saving electricity while we aren’t here it seems,” Aria noticed.

“Well just think how much an underground bunker would charge on an electric bill if all the lights were on at all times.” Spencer pointed out.

The new light illuminated the table which had a large rectangular box sitting on it.

Cautiously the girls approached wondering what the new item could be.

“It’s monopoly,” Emily excitedly announced.

“Take it we are going to be let out for quite a while then,” Spencer announced almost cheering up as she realised that meant she could waste the time away together as friends instead of being drugged and dreaming through most of it, “I dib the top hat.”


	22. Chapter 22

“So this is going to be fun.” Emily beamed as the group sat around the table, “So who wants to be the banker.”

“We're all playing,” Hanna declared, “I want to play this as long as we can, I have had enough beauty sleep for like a year.”

Carefully the lid of the box was lifted off and the board was unfolded and laid on the table. The girls stared for a moment before realising that this wasn’t a normal board they had been given to play on. All the spots had been replaced with places of their past.

“We’ll this brings creepy to a whole new level,” Aria stated clearly disgusted, “How much effort did A put into this.”

“Too much effort,” Spencer replied as she started to eye up the board.

“So are we just going to start playing and ignore them?” Emily asked.

“What significance does star motel have?” Aria asked looking around at the girl's faces.

“I think we need to go through these first Em, so we don’t have all this confusion,” Hanna expressed.

Spencer stayed quiet as she thought, she felt homesick. Having key places being brought up made her realise how much she just wanted to be home with Toby.

“Spence, you ok?” Aria asked placing her hand on the girls’ shoulder.

“Yeah, Yeah, I’m fine,” Spencer responded as she pushed back her emotions.

“The dark blue space, Radley and the shady pines cemetery," Spencer read, "Well this is morbid. All of these places of our past and we have to start with the most morbid ones."

"I have a feeling half of these are going to be morbid and the other half is there to make us feel homesick," Aria commented.

"But why is Radley in the blue space, isn't that meant to be the most expensive and best one to have," Hanna asked.

"Well, All roads lead back to Radley," Emily sighed as she rested her head on her fist, looking down she noticed the jail slot on the board, " Guys look, it's All."

The girls stated at the little All photo that was hidden away behind the bars.

"I take it she isn't getting out of prison anytime soon then," Aria sighed as she tried to change back the conversation to the other squares to the group wouldn't spend one of their few times out wallowing in sadness, " lucky Leons cupcakes, Apple rose Grille and The brew for light blue."

"God I miss coffee," Spencer ...

"I miss going to the Grille we had such a good time there before all of this mess, it's a shame we stopped going as much," Emily added into the conversation, "Why is Leons on here we didn't go there much."

"I did," Hanna quietly replied, "A made me each a whole box of their cupcakes once to get back the money they had stolen from me."

The group stared silently as they remember the harsh times A had constantly reminded Hanna about who she to be.

"Anyway," Hanna broke the silence, "moving on. We have in yellow the kissing rock, the lagoon and the hospital. That's the lagoon we drove Wilden's car into to hide the evidence. God, we have done some stupid stuff over the past few years."

"Green, "Emily piped in," Rosewood church, The Police station and the barn."

"So the place it nearly got killed, the place we end up half the time and the place were Alison went missing which caused this whole damn mess."

"It hasn't just been Alison's fault all of this happened," Emily tried to defend, " It's not her fault her mum decided to bury her in her back garden alive."

"Well, it just wouldn't have happened if Alison was never put friend I'm just saying," Spencer shot back.

"Ok calm guys, we haven't even started the game yet," Aria tried to calm down the two women.

"Brown, the school and Hollis," Hanna continued as she tried to disarm the situation as well, "It's weird I never thought I would miss school, but there you go."

“Wow, Hanna Marin is missing school,” Spencer commented, “hell must have frozen over.”

“Ha, ha Spence,” Hanna slyly replied, “I bet you miss shopping. Look the mall is on one of the pink spots.”

Spencer looked down at her clothes that although had not been the first pair were still not as good as her original standards.

“Yep, I miss clean clothes,” Spencer retorted raising her hands to show she was giving in, “and the rest of pink the country club and the theatre.”

“So they are just normal places,” Aria realised, “They don’t have any major significance to us.”

“A must of run out of places to pick,” Spencer suggested.

“Orange, Edgewood motor court, last wood resort and star motel. All places we have stayed overnight I presume, “Emily said looking over at Spencer who was in deep thought about her time at the places where she had been with Toby.

“And the last ones on the board,” Emily continued, “red, Fitzgerald theatre, the lighthouse…”

“And Ali’s house,” Hanna added, “The death places. Great so this is depressing, can we play already.”

“Well at least the puzzle pieces are the same as the normal ones,” Aria added as she reached out to grab one.

“No, the top hat is mine,” Spencer declared snatching the hat away from Aria’s grasp, “I called dibs.”

“So who wants to start?” Hanna asked.

“Guys do you actually know the rules,” Emily questioned.

“Well there is no rule book with this so it’s not like we can know now,” Hanna retorted.

“Right, I’ll just go through a few I remember then for the start then I’ll say them as they come,” Emily replied as she continues reciting the rules.

The group started by rolling the dice to see who would go first, after a while most of the property had been brought out and both Emily and Spencer had accumulated huge amounts of funds. Hanna was barely holding on when Aria had been eliminated from the game.

After an hour or so more Hanna had been made bankrupt and the board had been left to Spencer and Emily. The accumulated wealth slowly whittled down till Spencer was on her last set of houses as she tried to dodge her opponent spaces.

“Just admit it, Spence,” Emily said smirking, “I’m going to win.”

“Not yet,” Spencer replied determinably, “I still have a chance.”

“You don’t have any chances of winning Spence. You might as well just give up now,” Emily countered.

After about another 15 minutes Spencer had no choice but to admit defeat as she saw her final notes being passed to Emily as she landed on her hotel spots.

“You’ve played this a lot before,” Spencer commented quietly.

“Oh common Spence, you’re just a saw loser,” Aria added in, “most important past was that we spent that time together.”

The girls started to clear up the board before Hanna rested it on the shelf. As Hanna was just about to sit back down the voice of the speaker boomed across the room.

“Please return to your rooms.”

The girls slowly returned to their rooms after hugging each other goodbye. They hoped that it wouldn’t be too long before they were to be let out again to see each other.

Spencer collapsed on her bed, she felt like it would of most likely be night at this point and she should go get some sleep. As she was about to pull back her covers she noticed a sheet of paper lying on her pillow.

“I guess you can share your toys. A”

Spencer smiled, even though she knew she was one of the luckier of the girls when it came to her entertainment it still would be a nice change to read what Aria had created instead of the four books she had not read multiple times.

Emily walked into her room and noticed a box lying on her bed. Carefully she wondered over and looked inside. Inside was hundreds of pieces of jigsaws. Emily’s face lit up, the new gift would keep away the boredom of isolation away at least for a little while.


	23. Chapter 23

After a few days of isolation, the girls were joined together once again. The doors inside the bunker opened suddenly without much warning. The previous booming voice was nowhere to be found.

Cautiously Aria exited her room, she wasn’t sure if she was allowed too since she hadn’t been given any instructions. It wasn’t like A just to let them out without saying anything beforehand. One by one she peered around her friend’s doors so see all of them asleep in their beds.

“What time is it?” She questioned to herself, “Is it really night time, should I be asleep the rest of the girls?”

After contemplating for a moment, she realised that there was a chance that A wouldn’t let them out again for a while after this so I would be in the girl’s best interest if she just woke them up.

Walking into Spencer’s room she decided to wake up the girl first, she knew how it may take a while for Spencer to roll out of bed especially when she hadn’t had coffee in her system.

“Spence,” Aria whispered.

The girl moaned, raising her hand to her eye, “go away, you’re not real.”

“Spence, wake up,” Aria continued, “A’s let us out, don’t waste this opportunity.”

Spencer continued to lie there unresponsive.

“Right,” Aria spoke out loud as she reached down and ripped the covers away from the sleeping Spencer.

Spencer woke startled, “Aria, what the hell.”

“We’re allowed out, so get up,” She commanded, “I’m going to get up Em and Hanna.”

Emily was a lot easier to wake up, while Hanna still needed a bit of persuading.

“Hey Em,” Spencer spoke as she stumbled out of her room to meet the other girls in the corridor, “I want a rematch.”

Emily laughed, “So you are a sore loser then, can’t take it that I beat you at monopoly.

“You got lucky,” Spencer retorted, “That is all.”

“I doubt we have time to a rematch Spence,” Aria added in, “No announcement, so I don’t think that this freedom is going to last long enough to start a game of monopoly, like the longest game known to man.”

“Well then, we should start using this time better,” Hanna added, “It looks like the game’s room is locked anyway.”

“Anyway,” Spencer exclaimed, “A left me a message, we can start sharing our belongings now.”

“Wait really, “Emily asked in disbelief.

“Spence, give me one of your books. Please,” Hanna begged,” I am literally so bored all the time.”

“What will I get in return?” Spencer smirked.

“I literally own nothing Spence,” Hanna replied before a smile crept across her face, “I won’t drive you insane with my boredom.”

“Deal,” Spencer approved, “Em, do you want one?”

“Nah, I’m ok for now,” Emily told, “gave me something for winning the game.”

Spencer moaned, Entertainment was hard to come by down here so It sucked when she was so close to winning the game, “What they get you?”

“A jigsaw, not sure of what yet, “Emily replied, “No picture on the front and I haven’t managed to put together many of the pieces to get an idea. I’ve mostly just put together the outside pieces.”

“How many pieces is it?” Aria questioned.

“I’m not entirely sure, it’s pretty massive although,” Emily answered.

“A really hasn’t given us much in the way of fun have they,” Aria grumbled.

“We’ll what fun can you have trapped in an unground bunker,” Hanna pointed out.

“That is true,” Aria

“Wait Ar,” Spencer suddenly realised, “This means you can finally share your stories.”

“I haven’t finished writing it yet,” Aria voiced, “I don’t particularly want to show some half decent story.”

“Or you could give us some of your stuff to write and draw with,” Spencer pleaded her head tilited to one side.

“Spence, I have one pencil. I don’t have enough to share, “Aria explained, she paused for a second before an idea suddenly hit her, “Although I’m not entirely sure on this one section that I am doing. I could use some help with it. My books in my room I’ll show you.”

“Wait,” Hanna interrupted unsure at what the two girls were playing at, “Since you guys are obviously going to spend quite a bit of time on this can I get one of your books now Spence, then me and Em can like go and leave you two too it.”

“Sure, I’ve read them all, take whatever one you want,” Spencer responded.

Spencer headed off with Aria to the writer room while Emily and Hanna entered Spencer’s room to pick out the most interesting book that the brunette had been given as a gift.

“Which one is the longest?” Hanna asked Emily as she looked through the small selection of books.

“Um,” Emily muttered as she flicked through the collection, “This one,” she announced as she showed the girl the longest book.

“Right, I am going to enjoy reading this,” Hanna stated as she took the book from Emily’s hands, “Can I help with your jigsaw?”

“Sure,” Emily agreed, “You might be able to figure out what on earth it is actually off.”

“After you finish, can I use it as well?” Hanna asked slyly.

“My prison is your prison,” Emily answered, so as long as you repay the same debt when you get something to do then off course you can borrow it.

 

Meanwhile Aria was showing the notebook she had been using to figure out a way out. Carfully, trying not to show the pages to the camera she pointed out the different aspects of evidence she had collected.

“So what do you think,” Aria questioned as she thought carefully about what she was saying. She knew all the rooms were bugged so A would be listening to every word they said, “think you can add anything to make it better?”

The speakers voice started to boom out across the dollhouse, “5 minutes till doors shut.”

“Time seems to be up my little friend but I can look at it in my own room,” Spencer suggested “Trade you one of my books.”

“Sure,” Aria agreed, she could use with the extra brain power on the problem. “Can it be one you haven’t recited for me?”

“I’ll see what ever one Hanna took, then pick one out of what’s left,” Spencer told.

Spencer went and fetched one of her books for Aria, before retiring to her room and continuing Aria’s work to try and plan an escape from the dollhouse.


	24. Chapter 24

Once again the girls were let out of their cages, “Please exit your rooms and go to your assigned area,” the voice boomed through the speaker waking up half of the prisoners.

Slowly the girls found themselves together in the hallway with Spencer holding her borrowed items.

“Morning,” Spencer greeted the girls,” I think… Anyway, Aria here’s your notebook. I added as much as I could so I hope what I’ve added helps.”

“Thanks Spence,” Aria gratefully replied as she took the notebook from Spencer’s out reaching hands, “The book was good.”

“You’ve already finished the book?” Hanna exclaimed shocked.

“It was short Han,” Aria expressed confused.

“I’m not even halfway through mine,” Hanna explained.

“What have you been doing all this time Hanna?” Emily asked clearly confused as well.

“Reading and sleeping,” Hanna answered, “I’m just a slow reader it seems. That’s a good thing here, need to make sure the enjoyment actually lasts.”

“Hey guys, let me just pop back my pad and pencil then we can go to the games room and enjoy ourselves,” Aria announced.

Aria turned back and entered her room, she quickly put her notebook and pencil on her table letting it wait to be used after she was locked up.

“Guys the games room is locked,” Spencer proclaimed, as she had left the others to open the door.

Aria entered the corridor again, “you sure?”

“Almost certain,” Spencer shouted back down the hallway, “Maybe we just aren’t allowed in here today?”

Turning back towards the girls Spencer checked every door on her way back, surprisingly one of  the doors opened revealing the kitchen area once again, “Guys, Kitchen is open,” Pausing for a moment she noticed the counter filled with food, “We have food,” Spencer proceeded to rush into the kitchen to look at all the new goodies.

“Wait food?” Hanna asked the girl although she had already disappeared into the room, “Common, lets follow Spence, I just hope she is right about there being food. I’m starved.”

The girls followed the excited Spencer into the kitchen to discover her eyeing up the ingredients on the kitchen counter.

“Well this room is weird,” Hanna commented,” I haven’t been in here yet.”

“We have,” Emily explained, “we had to clean in here.”

“You mean, me and Spence had to clean in, here right?” Aria corrected, “Remind me if I’m room but you didn’t really do anything.”

“My arm is broken,” Emily replied innocently,” It makes cleaning hard.”

Aria shock her head but turned back to sow her attention to the food, bending down she opened the fridge and peered inside, “Oh my god, it’s stocked. It’s actually stocked. You got to be kidding me.”

“Hey look a note. Once a week restock only,” Emily read out loud, “A.”

“Take it A got bored of having to cook us meals all the time,” Emily suggested.

“You’re the only one getting cooked for all the time Em,” Aria reminded the girl. It was clear that most of the girls were not getting the required food to sustain their lifeform as their bodies had wasted away from them. It made Emily feel guilty of how she was getting special treatment although she knew once her arm was fixed she would off gone back to how the other were treated.

Spencer had spent the past few minutes silent studying how much food they had at their disposal.

“I recon we have about 4 days’ worth of food,” Spencer started to explain,” Which means we are going to have to ration this stuff, we don’t know if A will even give us this much food next week or not.”

“The food isn’t exactly exciting is it,” Hanna expressed picking up a tin of carrots.

“It’s food, and that’s all that matters,” Spencer stated, “and what did you expect?”

“It could be worse I suppose,” Hanna realised, “Can we just eat something, I really am starved.”

“Mince and pasta?” Aria suggested checking what was in the fridge and counter.

“Sounds delicious wait, Is it that weird vegetarian mince?” Spencer Questioned.

“Yeah,” Aria replied realising how all her other friend was unlike her fans of meat.

Spencer moaned, “Well as long as the mince hasn’t gone off I still say that’s an improvement to what I have been getting.”

“Nope, looks in date,” Aria replied taking the mince out of the fridge and placing it on the counter.

“Wait, does this mean we won’t get to eat unless A has let out for the day?” Hanna realised.

The girls stood there for a moment contemplating an answer.

“Well we still have the door slots, they might be left open, “Emily suggested.

“but that would mean that at least one of us will be let out,” Spencer pointed out.

“Well let’s just keep hopeful about that then,” Emily replied not wanting to think about being locked away in her room for days at a time again.

“How long does this all take to cook?” Hanna asked opening the packet of Quorn mince.

“Put the mince in a pan to heat, and fill up a pot about halfway with water and boil it.” Emily explained, “I’ll sort out their rest.”

“Em you have 1 arm, let us do it” Aria explained tried to get the athletic girl sit down and relax.

“You don’t need two arms to stir,” Emily replied with slight annoyance in her voice, “Anyway, I’m still the best cook here and I’m also currently the strongest one. Look at you, you’re nearly just bones.”

“Fine,” Aria gave up,” Just walk us through it so everyone can do it in the future when you aren’t here.”

“Are you planning on getting rid of me?” Emily joked.

“You know what I mean,” Aria tried to explain.

“Ar, It’s a joke. It’s fine. I can pretty much presume that I won’t be slaving away in the kitchen all the time.” Emily laughed, “Well you can always set the table or something.”

“Em, where’s the table?” Spencer questioned the girl who was focused on Hanna filling up the pots.

“Ok, just put some plates on the counter then,” Emily suggested, “and maybe but all these tins and bags of food away in the cupboards. Might as well use all this cupboard space for something.”

Spencer and Aria checked through the cupboards for plates and cutlery while continuing to put the food away.

“There’s only small plates,” Aria announced after all the cupboard had been checked,” I think that just says something about our new portion sizes, at least we have cutlery.

“Why do you think we have permission to cook finally?” inquired Spencer.

“Well, I made food for A and didn’t try to use one of the knifes to fight my way out,” Aria answered with the most pliable explanation.

“You should have tried,” Emily commented under her breathe.

“Em, I wouldn’t have made it past the kitchen,” Aria retorted, “plus I would have been punished because of it, it’s just not worth it anymore.”

After a while of cooking Emily announced for the girls to come over to look at the mince to show them what it looked like once It finished cooking,” Since we don’t have a clock in here, or like anyway, you need to know what it will look like once It has done cooking. If we ever get kitchen you need to make sure that it cooked very well or it will make us all ill.”

After the meal, had finished cooking Spencer severed up the small plates. “I think we might have to go back for seconds, the plates aren’t big enough.”

After taking their first mouthfuls of the meal Hanna exclaimed, “Well, this isn’t as good as normal mince but compared to what we have been getting this is amazing.”

“Cheers,” Spencer raised her glass in celebration, “to food.”

“To food,” the others repeated raising their glasses before drinking their water.

“So, what’s the date?” Emily asked in between mouthfuls.

“28th or the 29th roughly, “answered Aria, “it’s probably off, it hard keeping track without sunlight.”

After their meal was finished the girls washed up before being instructed to return to their rooms. Hugging each other goodbye they parted ways and headed back towards their prison cells.

A was waiting, they had read Aria’s notebook while the other had been eating. Aria entered her room, ready to pick up her notebook and look at what Spencer had left her.

As the door slammed she saw the hooded figure in front of her, the scream echoed through the bunker but Aria was helpless on her own as the figure cornered her in her room.


	25. Chapter 25

Grudgingly Aria woke up; everything was near black.  Trying to move she found her hands cuffed together in front of her, lifting them up they were blocked by a layer trapping her in a box like coffin.

As she tried to scream for help she found her voice muffled by tape sealing it shut. She tried to remember what had led her to this situation as she questioned if she was just stuck in a nightmare. The whole situation reminded her of her time on the ghost train when she was trapped next to the recently deceased Garett.

Her body felt frozen as the surrounding air around her made her shiver uncontrollably. Looking around in the dim light ahead she tried to see if there had been a nail or anything she could use to free herself again. Her heart started to race as she began to realise that this wasn’t a dream. She remembered the figure that had waited in her room and attacked her, she knew that A must have found her plan to escape their prison.

She tried to breathe in but it was restricted from the tape, Aria felt faint. She didn’t think she was getting in enough air and she heavily breathed through her nose. As she breathed in a putrid smell filled her nostrils that made her feel like she was going to throw up.

She could hear muffled voices from outside before a speaker was turned on that boomed out the voices of her friends.

The other three liars met up in the corridor as they waited for a moment to see if Aria’s door would open.

“Aria?” Spencer shouted she banged on the small girl’s door, “Are you in there?”

Hanna bent down and checked if the slot at the bottom of the door was unlocked.

“Where can she be?” she questioned, as the slot on the door didn’t budge.

“Maybe she is just asleep?” Emily suggested.

“Would she really sleep though all this shouting?” Spencer pointed out.

“If she was on drugs, yep,” Emily continued.

“Do you think she actually started to take them?” Spencer asked, “She was so adamant she wouldn’t take any.”

“Maybe A just drugged her water, she doesn’t have much control about that,” Emily suggested.

“Maybe, maybe your right,” Spencer agreed, “anyway whatever had has happened she isn’t responding and I think we need to start cooking. The door might open later if she wakes up.”

Aria could hear everything the girls were saying as she tried to shout out to them, but the fact her mouth was taped closed and she was probably locked up away from where the girls were meant her efforts were meaningless. She tried to reach up to rip the tape off her mouth as she continued to listen to the girl’s conversations.

The liars had entered the kitchen and were deciding on their next move.

“Wait, what did we say the day was last time we met up?” Hanna questioned the group as she just realised something.

“The 29th, roughly,” Emily replied confused at what the girl was talking about.

“We missed Easter,” Hanna exclaimed, “We did nothing for Easter, it was like a week ago. We probably spent Easter trapped in our bedrooms.”

The girls were silent as the fact of missing an Easter with their parents saddened them.

“Wow, first Easter without an Easter egg hunt,” Emily sighed, as she realised how much she missed being at home with her mum.

“Right, we can’t think about that,” Spencer stated, “We need to sort out this food so it lasts us a week. We need to ration all of this, who knows how long this food needs to last us.”

“Well, A said they would resupply each week,” Emily remembered.

“Well, at least for the first week we need to ration well as A might not give us as much food next week,” Spencer pointed out.

“Fair point,” Emily realised,” Han why don’t you start cooking while me and Em sort out the different meals we could have.”

“Sure,” Hanna agreed, “What are we having?”

“Whatever you fancy,” Emily replied, “As long as you don’t burn it it’s all good.”

Hanna started to cook while the other girls started to count what other food they had at their disposal.

“Well at least this situation isn’t the worst,” Emily spoke out as she counted how many tins of vegetables they had.

“How can this situation get any worse?” Hanna questioned with annoyance in her voice, “We are trapped in an underground bunker with a madman.

“Like we have food, somethings, “Emily told trying to be optimistic, “and we have each other.”

“Where’s Aria then?” Hanna asked.

“Well, at least we have a warm bed,” Emily tried harder to show their lives weren’t completely miserable, “And A is supplying up with sanitary products.”

“Well yeah,” Hanna sarcastically commented,” I bet they don’t want us bleeding everywhere once a month, especially when they aren’t the ones dealing out the pain.”

Spencer stood their wide-eyed as her friends continued to talk.

“Plus imagine having to clean up all that blood all the time,” Emily joked too, “A would love this place to be a blood bath.”

“Hey, Spence. Are you ok,” Hanna asked the wide-eyed girl who hadn’t spoken for a while.

“I haven’t had my period,” Spencer replied in a hushed manner.

“What?” Hanna exclaimed confused.

“I should have had my period by now, oh god,” Spencer gasped, her heart felt like it was pounding and the whole realisation made her feel like she was about to collapse.

“There could be multiple reasons why you haven’t had your period yet Spence,” Emily tried to relax the stressed girl, “The whole experience could have stressed your body out so it just stopped all unnecessary functions.”

“Oh god,” Spencer panicked,” How… This can’t be happening.”

“We don’t know anything for definite,” Emily reassured Spence.

“I can’t have a kid here,” Spencer uttered hysterically.

“um,” Emily tried to think,” let’s just see. Have you had morning sickness?”

“You really think I know what time of day it is at all?” Spencer shouted as she continued to panic.

“Fine calm down, have you been feeling sick lately?” Hanna asked as she pulled up a chair so that Spencer could sit down.

“Yes, but hello. I’ve been kidnapped there could be several reasons why I could be feeling sick. It could have just been a side effect of all the drugs I have been taking or the rubbish food.” Spencer ranted as she sat down.

“What about food cravings?” Emily suggested.

“We have been starved half of the time. I always want food.” Spencer retorted.

“What about aches?” “Do you have any back ache?” Hanna inquired.

“I’ve been in pain since I got into this hell hole.” Spencer shouted as she wiped away a tear that started to form.

“So, basically what we have learnt from this is we have no idea if you are pregnant without a pregnancy test,” Emily stated.

“Well how do you think we will get our hands on one on them then, maybe we can just pop off to the pharmacy,” Spencer sarcastically snapped.

Spencer started to break down, she couldn’t stop the tears from pouring down her face, she couldn’t let herself feel vulnerable and helpless in the situation. She had to be the groups rock, and not let herself break down but she couldn’t see how things could get any worse.

“Maybe there will be one in the medical area, if the door is ever opened?” Emily proposed remembering where they had first been trapped when they had entered the dollhouse.

“Wait who’s the father,” Hanna asked as she let her mind to the worse place possible.

“oh god,” Spencer kept repeating to herself before she realised that Hanna had asked her a question, “It’s Toby,”

“You sure?” Hanna probed, unsure if Spencer would have said anything if anything did happen.

“Yes, I am sure,” Spencer reassured the girl.

“Well, we don’t know about everything that has happened since we got here,” Hanna asked again.

“No, no,” Spencer clicked about what Hanna was talking about, “It’s Toby’s. Oh, god, what am I going to do?”

Meanwhile Aria had listened to the girl’s conversations shocked about how it had progressed. She had managed to slowly remove the tape that was stopping her from screaming.

She had managed to compose herself, by focusing on the other’s problems instead of her own. Carefully she tried to turn herself on her side to see if she could find anything that could help with her escape, instead she came face to face with death itself.

Aria couldn’t help it as a loud scream escaped her lips, the dead cold eyes of the girl in front of her seemed to stare into her soul.

It had been six weeks since Mona had died, her cold body had been preserved reducing the breakdown that should have left her to just be a pile of bones, but the girl’s face was still grey. She was left with a gaunt expression on her face as she just continued to stare, unblinking.

Aria started to plea to be freed from her coffin like prison, she promised she would behave, that she would stop trying to escape. Her pleas were broadcasted across the dollhouse sinking fear into the other girls as they became haunted by pleading screams. The girls were just left wondering what had happened to their little friend to put her into that situation.


	26. Chapter 26

Aria’s haunting screams continued being broadcasted throughout the dollhouse, the rest of the liars were left frozen.

“Where the heck is Aria?” Spencer shouted over the sounds of the screams, the sound made her stomach sick. She wasn’t sure if this was just another one of A’s tricks or her tiny friend was in serious trouble.

Emily was paralysed in shock, while Hanna tried to calm down the now wide-eyed girl.

“Oh god, what is A doing to her,” Aria quietly whispered fear set in her tone, Hanna only managed to pick up a few of her words over the screams but what she did hear just made her hold the traumatised girl closer to her in fear that they may be next.

The screams continued till Aria’s voice started to break, the hollowing screams turned into sobbing pleads.

Aria continued to stare into the dead girl’s eyes, the whole situation she was in was too much to handle. Her voice became raw from all the shrieking, she mumbled between deep breathes, “I’ll swear I’ll be good, just please, please let me out.”

Aria’s eyes became blurred as the tears couldn’t escape fast enough away from her face, she looked a mess. Aria tried to get away but the box she was trapped in was small and since her hands were clasped together she was unable to do anything to help her situation.

All that left her to do was beg until she couldn’t speak anymore, then cry until A put her out of her misery.

The other girls listened until all they could hear was the quiet sob. Emily seemed to snap out of her trace as she watched Hanna pick up a carving knife.

“Let her out. You, filthy monster,” Hanna screamed at the camera holding the sharp knife threating.

Spencer got out of her seat and shoved the stall the ground in defiance. She headed towards the kitchen counter to also grab a weapon. Before deciding to follow Hanna, who was starting to march with force towards the door to try and escape from their kidnapper and torturer, who had hidden behind closed doors in the maze that they lived and played in.

Hanna was unable to reach the door as it slammed in her face, locking with its electromagnetic buzz. Hanna backed away towards the rest of her group as an eye piercing noise screeched throughout the room. The girl’s immediate reaction was to cover their ears in pain. Hanna dropped the knife as it clattered to the floor, she retreated to the safety of her friends.

“What the hell,” Hanna screeched.

“I can’t bare this,” Emily yelled out as she clutched onto her ears like her life depends on in.

“How do we get this to stop?” Hanna bellowed over the Sirens.

Spencer backed up towards the wall in hope to support herself, “guys, I don’t feel so good.” Trying to support herself on anything she could hold she removed her hands from ears as her head felt like it was spinning. She started to slump against the wall as her vision became blurred and she collapsed to the floor.

“Spence!” Emily yelled as she saw the girl fighting for consciousness.

“I can smell gas,” Hanna shouted.

Spencer blacked out as she Sirens continued to pound on overhead.

“Get away from the vents, A must be pumping in gas,” Hanna cried, “Help me drag Spence away.”

Emily and Hanna each took ones of Spencer’s hands as they dragged her unconscious body into the middle of the room.

“Help me cover the vents,” Hanna ordered.

“With what?” Emily questioned.

“We have tea towels, we can use them,” Hanna answered grabbing one of them off the counter and throwing it to Emily. Hanna grabbed another towel from a draw before the two of them set off to try and stop the flow of toxic gas that was leaking into the room.

Both the remaining girl’s coughed violently as the gas was blown up straight towards them. Trying as hard as they could to stay awake they attempted to cover up as much of the vent as they could.

Emily collapsed on her side, unable to take in enough oxygen she quickly passed out.

“Em?!” Hanna screamed as the sirens continued to wail overhead giving Hanna a pounding headache. Stepping back, she tried to put as much distance from the vent as she could. She watched Emily’s helpless body lie there as she knew there was nothing she could do to save her.

Rushing backwards unable to see where she was going she tripped over the fallen stall and smashed her head against the floor as she landed. Hanna moaned in pain, the gas was starting to affect her as she succumbed to the darkness.

Spencer woke up, she was startled to find herself lying on a cold hard table, confused she tried to sit up. Her head felt like it was pounding against her skull and she felt like she might throw up at any minute. Confused and disoriented she waited until both Hanna and Emily abruptly woke up with Hanna in pits of moans.

“Oh god my head,” she complained expecting it just to be a headache from the constant sirens that had attacked the girls. Reaching her hand back behind her head she was met with mattered bloody hair. As she placed her hand against the wound she winced in pain, “Guy’s I’m bleeding.”

Both Spencer and Emily looked over expecting a river of blood to be pouring from the girl’s head, but to their surprise, the cut looked mostly healed. There was no new blood and the blood that did cover it seemed to have dried up.

“How long were we out for?” Emily groaned as she sat up, “Aria?!”

The petite brunette was lying next to the still disoriented Spencer peacefully asleep. Aria didn’t respond to her name it was clear that the sleeping gas still hadn’t gotten out of her system.

Spencer strained her eyes, “We look dead,” she observed. The other girls noticed how they were arranged, their faces looked a ghastly white like all the blood had been drained out of them. The white sheets that covered them reminded them of a morgue, and the metal desks they were lying on just added to the illusion.

“Why would A want us to look dead?” Emily questioned.

“To send a message to our families to stop looking,” Spencer stated imagining the worst situation that A could conjure up. Looking at Emily she noticed a collar strapped around her neck, unsure if she was just imaging it she instinctively grabbed at her own neck to find the same design. Looking over at Hanna and the slumbering Aria she saw the same design around both their necks too.

Both Emily and Hanna noticed the collars to as tried to yank them off too little change.

“What are these things?” Hanna questioned as she became increasingly worried, “They won’t come off.”

“Here let me look,” Spencer announced as she leant over and tried to dismantle the collar. As she did so a huge shock wave was sent out from the collar causing her shoulders to raise, Spencer tried to clutch at the source of the pain but it only made it worse. As the shocks of pain subsided Spencer collapsed on the metal desk breathless, “Or not,” she continued as she gasped for air.

The two other girls watched in horror at the situation unfold helplessly to do anything as they didn’t understand what was going on.

“Oh my god, Spencer are you ok?” Hanna asked pulling the girl up to a sitting position from where she had collapsed.

“I don’t think we can remove them.” Spencer stated the obvious,” I think we have gone from A’s dolls to A’s pets.”

“Well at least we aren’t in cages,” Emily mumbled.

“Don’t say that too soon Em,” Spencer warned, “A is probably listening.

Aria started to stir, her arms thrashed out as she panicked. She still wasn’t aware of her surroundings and still believed she was trapped in the coffin-like box with a dead Mona.

“Please, just please,” Aria wept as she was trapped in the nightmare of her mind.

“Aria calms down,” Spencer tried to hush the girl, “You’re with us. You're safe. Take a few minutes.”

Aria’s lip trembled as tears poured down her face.

“Tell us what’s wrong. What happened,” Spencer gently prodded her to answer.

“Mona,” was the only words she could mutter.

“Mona’s dead,” Emily replied confused.

“but they still have her body,” Aria replied trembling, “It was dark. I couldn’t move…”

Spencer tried to rest her hand on the shaking girl's shoulder to try and support her but it instead sent her spiralling downwards.

“I… I need to get out of her,” Aria decided to leap off the table and onto the floor barefoot. As she rushed to the door to try and make her escape she collapsed on the floor in fits of pain.

“Aria!” Emily gasped leaping out of the covers to try and save the girl. Her heroic deed was although in vain as she collapsed on the floor in pain as well.

“Don’t move,” Spencer exclaimed, “We aren’t allowed to move. A has complete control.”


	27. Chapter 27

Aria laid on the floor continuously shaking as the other girls were unable to help her in fear of being punished with a volt of electricity from the collar.

“Aria what happened?” Spencer asked in a hushed voice scared even talking would set of the collar again.

Aria whimpered unable to reply for a moment, she took a deep breath as she uttered, “A found my notebook.”

“Oh,” was all Spencer could reply as she looked at the broken girl in front of her. She felt guilty that Aria had been the only one punished for the escape attempt especially when she was probably the reason for A’s suspicion to look, “I’m so sorry.”

Emily and Hanna looked at each other confused, they couldn’t understand how all the pain Aria had just been made to go through could have been caused by the notebook that A had given her.

“We are never going to escape,” Aria started to ramble, “We’re going to die in here. Trapped forever, never seeing our family again. I’m never going to see Ezra again. We’re going to be buried in an unmarked grave and never found.”

Aria continued rambling as it became more and more unrecognisable.

Over the continual ramble, both Hanna and Emily tried to comfort the girl with reassurance.

“We are going to escape.”

“A can’t keep us locked in here forever.”

“We will beat them.”

“We are all going to get out and see our family’s again.”

“You will get to see Ezra again.”

 “You can’t lose hope.”

Each time either one of the girls spoke some reassurance they were greeted with a shock in their collar, it wasn’t as bad as when they tried to move to comfort Aria but it still stung badly.

Aria stopped her rambling, sniffling stiff she replied, “Well you know what they say, Hope breeds eternal misery.”

“That’s not fair,” Hanna complained, “You can’t use Spencer’s quotes against this.”

“Well like always,” Aria responded back,” Spencer’s right. We are never going to leave.”

“So what do we do now?” Emily asked the group.

“We wait,” Spencer spoke up.

“For how long?” Emily questioned.

“Until A says we can leave,” Spencer replied.

The group lay in their spots silently as one by one A granted permission to the girls to return to their bedrooms.

Hanna was the first to leave, she got up quietly looking at the girls gloomily as she exited the now unlocked door and left towards her bedroom.

Upon entering her room, she noticed all her belongs were flung across the room, nothing seemed to be broken but it looked like it might take a while to clean back up. Hanna knew that from this point forward it would only get worse for the girls, but she knew she couldn’t lose hope or A would finally win.

Emily was next to leave the room, she nodded silently to the others as she left them, not knowing when she would see them again.

Emily’s room had also been ransacked by A, her new puzzle had been smashed to the floor and all the hundreds of pieces were now lying spread out over the carpet. It looked like A was trying to find any evidence of the other girls trying to escape their prison.

“Great,” Emily muttered as she started to pick up the pieces with her one good arm, “It took me forever to get that far.”

Aria and Spencer were the last ones left, A seemed to leave them either in each other’s company completely silent for what seemed like hours. A must of know that Spencer had helped with the plan and was waiting to punish her as well.

After the long empty wait, the voice finally boomed over the speaker allowing Spencer to return to her room.  She looked at the small girl apologetically as she turned and left her alone. She slowly shuffled towards her room, regretting ever step that took her away from Aria. She wanted to run back and hug her, tell her that all hope doesn’t breed eternal misery. She wanted to tell her so badly that she was room and she was so sorry, but she knew even if she did turn back the collar would make short work of her adventure.

Spencer entered her room, as she watched her feet drag against the ground. The door slammed behind her as she looked up and pure horror stuck her face.

The hooded figure watched her intensely from the other side of the room, the face hidden by a mask.

Spencer couldn’t back up; she couldn’t even move. A thousand thoughts raced through her head of what she should do. She felt paralysed in fear.

She had a few options. Firstly, attack her capture, that would be short lived through due to the girl’s new shock collars controlling their every move. She could also try and run and get away, but due to the collar, she knew this would also be pointless and just lead to pain. Her only option was just to stand there, completely vulnerable and hope that A wasn’t there to end her misery.

Although Spencer wasn’t the type of girl to stand down from a bully, especially when they were so close to her. Quietly she tried to reach out for something to defend herself with. A spotted her.

“Don’t do that,” the figure commanded, their voice distorted, as Spencer was brought down on her knee’s in pain, “I have a task for you.

The hooded figure pointed to Spencer’s desk instructing her to go to it. Hesitantly Spencer started to move, with each pause a shock was sent up Spencer’s spine causing her to carry on moving forward. She sat down at the desk and waited for her kidnappers next instruction. On the desk was a bunch of writing equipment.

“I need you to write a message,” A instructed. A quick jolt of energy caused Spencer to rush to pick up the pen and grab the paper, “Tick tock, Till the bell rings for death -A”

Spencer finished writing as best as she could, her hand was shaking as she was terrified at what the message meant. She wondered who the message would be for. It was obviously for someone on the outside, but from the message is seemed like their girl’s time was running out.

“Put in in the envelope and write, read me on the front.” A commanded.

Spencer did as she was told.

“And I need you to write another letter,” A continued, “I need you to say how Mona is dead, it was your fault she died. You killed her.”

Spencer felt sick as she listened to A’s twisted scheme that she was forced to participate in. She was fearful that A was going to kill the group that she was writing the last thing that her family would ever receive from her.

“You need to write this from the heart, like you really mean it,” A commanded, “You also need to write how your friends are going to be dead as well soon.”

Spencer’s heart sank as she heard those words. She felt like she was drowning and there was no way out, she couldn’t understand why it was only her friend that were going to be dead soon. Why wasn’t A planning to kill her as well?

Spencer grasped the pen and started to write, her hand continued to shake and the tears that had formed in her eyes had rolled onto the page creating puddles of smudged writing.

Spencer got near to finish writing, at the end before she signed off she wrote, “I love you, Toby, go live your life and forget about me.”

Breathing in unsteadily she signed off, “I fear this is the last time you will ever hear from me, Spencer Hastings.”

“Take the other envelope and put the letter in, lick it shut.” A commanded.

Spencer did as she was told before the figure took both letters and left her alone in her room. Spencer didn’t move till the door slammed shut in fear that it would lead to another punishment.

As the door slammed Spencer fell apart, she couldn’t hold in her emotions anymore. A stream of tears poured out of her eye’s, she collapsed on the desk as she tried to breathe shallow breaths. Spencer was scared that it had been the last time she would have seen her friends.

After managing to catch her breath she looked around the room and saw how it had been stripped empty, all that remained was a blanket on the stripped bed and the pen A had left on the desk after their meeting. Spencer went over and collapsed on her bed as she continued to cry.

During the whole encounter Aria, had been let back to her room, she collapsed on her bed as she hoped she could just pass out and dream of being home. Sirens blared off overhead in short bursts making it impossible to sleep.

The girl’s notebooks and pencils had been taken, leaving her miserable and still shaking from her experience.


	28. Chapter 28

It had been a month since the last girls had been kidnapped under the noses of the police officers who has sworn to protect them despite their connection to the murder of Mona Vanderwaal. The police had run out of any leads, they knew as time went on the chance they would ever find the girls decreased dramatically.

During all the time Caleb, Ezra, Toby and Spencer’s parents had been working together in secret trying to unravel the mystery of A. They hadn’t uncovered much useful new evidence towards their case. They had found scrambled signals that led across different parts of America, the signals had only been traps or illusions. Every place a new signal popped up at had been explored and no new evidence had been found. The Hasting parents had flown out multiple times in hopes that the next signal would lead them to their daughter.

During the morning news broadcast the channel had been hijacked, as well all the police monitors blared to life showing the video that disproved their theories that the girls had simply run away. Toby was working in the police station; he had been given a different case since he had been too close to the girls to keep in a good state of mind. Despite this, he had still been cross-checking evidence to try and find any new lead.

When all the screens blared up Toby couldn’t help but notice the first video clip that popped up on the screen.

“Spencer,” he whispered alarmed as he saw the freighted girl crying over the dead body of Mona Vanderwaal. Toby, as well as the other officers, continued watching unable to speak.

More clips followed, the station filled up with the determined shouts of Aria as she looked up partly scared but mostly angry, “No, we are not your dolls!”

The noise of sirens filled the air before they were replaced by screams, Toby couldn’t bear to watch as he saw his girlfriend lying on the floor cuffed as the hooded figure of A was seen beating her up.

The next clip was the girl’s in their bedrooms, some looking so defeated and sad while others from before they had had their hope drained from them.

The next video was off Hanna when she had first arrived at the dollhouse a month before chained up screaming at the camera, “Where is she you monster,” as there was screams heard in the background. The next scene transitioned to the girl’s in the kitchen as the sirens blared overhead and one by one they had collapsed to the ground. The final clip showed them lying in a morgue, the collars hadn’t been fitted yet but still, the girls just seemed to pale and lifeless.

As the video ended a final message appeared onto the screen, “If you want the bodies you must find me. -A”

Most of the police officers looked around in confusion. It had been the first-time A had come out into the open, it looked like they might have become bored with only messing with the girls. It seemed like they no longer found it enough of a challenge it didn’t give them enough of a rush and they needed someone else to try and find them.

The phones at the police station started to call out as they were flooded with calls about the recent broadcast.

After a moment to compose himself Toby got up, he knew now that A was finally out of the shadows it would be safe to reveal all the information they had collected about them. Shakenly he walked to Tanner's office and knocked on the door, as he did so he overheard the comments of the officers around him.

“What the hell just happened.”

“Are the girl’s dead?”

“Who the heck is A?”

Walking into Tanners office he was offered a seat, Tanner could see how shaken up the video had caused the young officer and was interested in what he was about to say.

“I presume you saw the video,” Toby started to say.

“It was hard to miss, seems like it was broadcasted all over town,” Tanner replied, “Do you know anything about this?”

“We know about A?” Toby replied.

“We?” Tanner questioned.

“Me, Caleb, Ezra and the Hasting parents,” he responded, “We knew it was A all along who took the girls”

“Why didn’t you report in about this,” Tanner asked angrily as she felt like her time had been wasted.

“A said they would kill Spencer if we told,” Toby answered as he looked down at his feet, “A had done enough to make us scared of this promise.”

“What do you know about this A character then?” Tanner questioned.

“Everything but nothing at the same time, they are like a ghost.” Toby told, “We have a lot of files of information that has been collected about everything, everything A has made the girl’s do and every hint about who they are. I’ll get Celeb and Ezra to bring them down to the station.”

“That would be most apricated,” Tanner spoke, “How long has this been going on for?”

“Well, Mona was the original A, but after that, it started up again in September 2011” Toby explained.

“So you are telling me within 2 and half months this new A decided to kidnap Mona Vanderwaal, then wait another 4 months until they decided to start kidnapping the other girls.

“Yeah,” Toby uttered, “The time span has been very strange.”

“Why wasn’t the police informed before the girls were kidnapped if it had been happening for 6 months.”

“A knows all the girl’s secrets. One’s that would have landed them in jail.”

“So why are you going to tell us this information now that would still let them end up in jail,” Tanner questioned.

“As that won’t matter if they never make it out of there,” Toby explained.

The officers outside had been waiting patiently for Tanner to issue them orders.

“Ok, you get this evidence to the station and I’ve got to say my orders,” Tanner announced as she got up and walked out of her office, “Attention, attention. Due to the new evidence in the case, we need to get the girl’s parents to the station. We will have a lot of evidence to go through so expect a late night.”

Holbrook marched up to Tanner, a stern look on his face, “What the heck was that on the monitors?”

“It seems like Mrs Vanderwaal was alive, there is no chance now that Mrs DiLaurentis murdered her,” Tanner explained.

“So, she’s innocent,” Holbrook asked.

“Seems that way,” Tanner replied.

“I’ve just sent a message to Caleb and Ezra they are bringing in the boxes,” Toby butted in.

“Box’s?” Holbrook questioned.

“It seems that Toby and his friends have known about this A character for quite a while,” Tanner explained, “Cavanaugh could you take Officer Foster with you to the prison with orders for the release of Alison DiLaurentis.”

“Yes Mam,” Toby spoke as he walked off to officer Jenny to visit the prison.

“This story is going to blow up big,” Holbrook warned.

“I know, but hopefully with this new information we might be able to shut off many of our unsolved crimes that the girls have been involved with and hopefully get them back,” Tanner announced, “It seems like the girls are not as innocent as first though and they have a lot of secrets that could have landed them in jail a long time ago.”


	29. Chapter 29

“I have a warrant here for the release of Alison DiLaurentis,” Toby informed the stationed guard.

Looking at the papers the guard nodded, “Wait here,” he ordered the two officers, “I need my superior for this.”

“What do you know about this A person?” Jenny Foster, the offer that had joined him on his trip to the prison, asked.

“What do you want to know?” Toby retorted, there was just too much to say without narrowing down the field of information.

“I take it you don’t know who they are, but what are their motives?” Jenny inquired.

“I wish I knew,” Toby replied sighing, “That bit doesn’t make much sense.”

“Well, what’s the worst thing they have done, apart from kidnap the girls?” Jenny voiced.

“The ghost train incident was one of A’s plans,” Toby explained.

“Wait they one Garret died at?” Jenny questioned shocked.

“Yeah, and Aria was locked in the box with him while someone tried to push her out of the train. A was also the one to drive through the Fields front living room, and you would never of guess who shot Ezra Fitz.” Toby replied with a slightly snarky tone.

“Freaking hell,” Jenny muttered under her breathe.

“Papers are cleared,” The guard announced as he returned to his station. “If you would follow me, please.”

The officers were lead from a tunnel of hallways until they reached Alison cell. Alison immediately shot up from the bed she was lying down in as soon as she saw Toby.

“Toby, what happened? Did you find the girls?” She intensively questioned.

“Alison DiLaurentis, you have been released from custody due to new evidence in the case,” Toby announced as professionally as he could.

“You found Mona? Was she with the girls? What happened to her?” the girl continued to question.

“Mona Vanderwaal is dead,” Toby expressed with a glum express on his face.

Alison was taken aback; she didn’t have high hopes that Mona would still be alive but she had to keep hoping so that she would think that her missing friends wouldn’t have shared the same fate. “What…. Who?” Alison stuttered.

“There has been so new video evidence, we are going to need your help,” Toby told her about the situation.

“Anything, I just want the girls safe,” Alison declared.

After filling in some paperwork Alison was free to go, she collected her clothes before following the officers back to the station. Most of the trip was silent with only a few instructions being given. Toby could barely look Alison in the eye.

Back at the station, all the parents had arrived, both Ezra and Caleb had transported the boxes of information over and were now explaining the general contents of each box to make it easier for the police investigation.

“What is she doing here?” Mr Monogamy shouted across the room as Alison was escorted inside. Alison was still confused; she hadn’t been told what had been going on despite a video that had been released.

Alison looked around, she could see that some of the parents had or were currently crying, she dreaded to think what could have been shown on the video.

“Toby, what happened?” She whispered to the officer standing next to her.

“Just sit down, Tanners about to explain” Toby requested as he showed Alison to her seat.

Tanner stood in front of the small group and started talking, “As many of you know, the TV broadcasters were hacked earlier today and a video was unfortunately released. For those that were not present watching it, we have a copy from what was on our monitors throughout the station. You do not have to watch this, but I advise you it is not pleasant.”

Nobody moved, everyone was locked into their seats staring at the monitor behind Tanner which was about to show them the video. Alison was getting more curious, what could have been on this video that could have led to her release.

“Very well,” Tanner nodded to one of the guards,” turn it on.”

The video played as the viewer watched with wide eye’s crying as they saw their beloved child and friends in their torturous circumstance. There were some gasps as the images of the death of Mona appeared.

 By the end of the video, Alison was in shock as she read, “If you want the bodies you must find me. A”

“What do we know?” Alison questioned loudly as the parents continued to sob in the background, she had been through enough for her emotions on subjects like to be turned down,” Are they dead?”

“We don’t know,” Tanner answered truthy before she was stopped by officer Sanders rushing in.

“Mam,” The officer announced as he tried to catch his breath, “A parcel was just found in one of the cruisers.”

Sanders raised the parcel from his side and showed Tanner.

“Follow me,” she ordered,” as she led the young officer away from the crowd of people into her office.

“Fetch me some gloves,” She commanded as the parcel was set down on her desk.

Alison rushed into the room followed by Toby.

“I tried to stop her,” Toby protested.

“What is it?” Alison asked as she saw the look on Tanner's face.

“I’m about to find out,” she replied as she took the gloves from Sanders. Carefully she opened the parcel with a letter knife that she had lying on her desk before she emptied the contents.

She first pulled out a larger object that filled up most of the bag, turning in around she saw it was a timer counting down with just over an hour to go. Tanner placed it on her desk and reached into the parcel again. She pulled out a sheet of paper, unfolding it she read out loud, “Tick tock, till the bells ring for death.”

Alison was shocked, was A about to murder all her friends unless they managed to find them in the next hour, “What do we do?”

“I think we have a time limit to figure out this riddle,” Tanner announced, “I need to get my men on this straight away. We need all resources on solving this problem.”

“Cavanaugh get this down to forensics to try and match any fingerprints or the writing, Sanders get the footage and try and find out who dropped this off, use Caleb to help you if you need it. I’ve heard he is very good with computers.”

Tanner set the station to work, the message on everyone’s mind could only mean one thing. They were running out of time to find the girls.


	30. Chapter 30

“Tick tock, till the bell rings for death”

The whole police force was on edge, the new evidence combined with the ever-approaching countdown on the timer had made the police station loud and full of panic. All the of the police resources had now been put on the case with the worry that in an hour time there wouldn’t be any missing girl’s left to find.

Since the case had become top priority the forensics of the fingerprints had been rushed through to the front of the line as the team tried to get a match on the partial copies that had been left on there.

Ali was still in Tanner’s office going over everything that had happened with the new A and trying to get any clues that would help. She was still cautious about telling the whole story, she knew some of the evidence that she could give could potential lead her right back into her prison cell.

“I need an agreement,” Alison asked before carrying on with her evidence.

“Which is?” Tanner inquired politely.

“I tell you all I know, but this information that we have given you doesn’t end up in a case to send all of us to jail.” Alison requested.

Tanner thought for a second before making up her mind, “okay, all charges will be dropped if it is helpful towards the case.”

Alison took in a deep breath before she started to explain the more dangerous and illegal side to the girl’s activities.

The time seemed to tick by too quickly, the parents had been lead to a conference room to be out of the way in the chaotic time. Even if the parents would have wanted to help in the search the officers knew they were in no emotional state to do so.

Mrs Marin, Mrs Montgomery and Mrs Hastings were all huddled around in a circle trying to support each other, the men of the group were on the other end of the room as Mr Hastings was trying to explain anything that he knew to the angrier men.

“Do you know what A could have been meaning?” Ella asked cautiously.

All the women thought they knew what the message could be, but no one wanted to say it out loud encase it was true.

“Oh god, Hanna,” was all Ashley could mumble as she hid her crumpled face in her hands.

Pam entered the room with a tray of coffees for the moms.

“Thanks,” Veronica responded, “I wish this was wine, I really need some of that now.”

“Sorry, it’s just the crappy police coffee,” Pam apologised as she sat back down in her chair.

30 minutes passed and the station was still in a state of panic.

“Any news on the forensics,” Tanner ordered as she came out of her office after talking to Alison.

“We found some in the letter,” An officer informed, “We are trying to match them with anything in our database.”

“What about the CCTV video?” Tanner inquired.

“The video was recorded over,” Sanders announced sadly, “Caleb is trying to track where the hack came from but he isn’t having much luck.”

Tanner cursed under her breathe, but hoped that the fingerprints left on the letter would lead to a new suspect in the case. She hoped that despite all that she had been told A had messed up with something.

More time passed, the timer was counting down in its last minute. Toby was collapsed over his desk as he tried to process all the information in his head. He stared at the timer as it counted down its final seconds.

“Ding, Ding, Ding.”

Toby shot up, “The church!”

Toby started to run out the station as he shouted at some of the officers to follow him, rushing out he got into one of the police vehicles and dashed off towards the suspected scene.

The sound of Sirens roared in the air around town as they reached the church. Toby got out of his vehicle and rushed into the church. Looking around he couldn’t see anything to run to the bell tower.

Looking up his heart dropped, he stood there looking up as more police officers joined him.

A full body bag hung from the ropes leaving the officers in silence.

“Get everyone some gloves,” Toby ordered before waiting for someone to return with them, “I want this whole area to be shut off.”

Carefully the officers removed the body bag from the ropes, they rested it on the side scared to open it.

Toby stepped back he couldn’t cope opening it, he was too scared this girlfriend could by lying inside.

Another officer stepped forward to take his place knowing full well the stakes that were in place, carefully he zipped down the case revealing a face.

“Oh god,” one of the officers gasped before radioing back to the station, “We’re at the church we have found a 10-100”

Back at the station, the parents could overhear the radio.

“10-100?” most of the parents questioned as they saw the officers spring into action out of the door.

Pam started to cry as she sat there in horror.

“Pam?” Ella asked worried, “What is a 10 100?”

“They have found,” Pam whimpered, “A dead body.”

The parents sat there in shock fearing that It could be their own daughter.

Meanwhile back at the church, the officers waited around for instructions.

“Can you identify the body?” Tanners voice came over the radio.

“It’s Mona Vanderwaal,” Toby replied as she stared at the dead girl’s face., “Requesting a hearse to pick up the body.”

Most of the officers exited the tower as they waited for reinforcements. Toby stayed with the body as he continued to look at the dead girl’s face.

The bag had been zipped down a bit more showing the bloody torn remains of her clothes and the striking marks all over her body.

“What did A do to you,” Toby whispered scared the other girls would be in the same state.

Toby looked down at the wounds as he noticed a letter to the side of the body, cautiously he picked it up and carefully opened it. He gasped as he read the last prominent line.

“Spencer Hastings.”

Pausing for a moment he started to read the letter out loud to himself.

“To whom it may concern,

I’m sorry, it had to be this way. We don’t know much but Mona is dead. All knowing is less luxurious even dead must only nevertheless agree. I killed her, she deserved to die after all she put us through, but understand not knowing ever redemption, I made the right decision and I will be punished for what I have done.

Many ultimate lies told I played like electricity always moving. We should have just stopped and told the truth, but it’s our fault we are here. Although it doesn’t seem like for much longer, in a few days I will be the only one left. A has plans regarding everyone, getting nowhere after nostalgic time.

I love you, Toby, go live your life and forget about me as I fear this is the last time you will ever hear from me.

Spencer Hastings”

Toby started to cry as he read the last sentence, he could never see himself forgetting about the girl he loved.

Back at the station the new evidence had been photographed and sent to forensics to see what they could pull from it. The parents had been sent home after they had found out the identity of the body. Almost immediately the forensic team noticed the same writing on both pieces of writing.

Checking through their database they pulled up in young Hastings finger prints from when she had been arrested the first time for the murder of Bethany young.

Carefully checking they saw the match of the prints. Knowing there could be several reasons why the Hastings fingerprints could be on the letters they sent off for some of Spencer’s writing before the kidnapping to see if it also matched. They did.

The team of officers had crowded around a newly put up board regarding the kidnapping showing screenshots of the bunker video and the letter. The officers were full of muttering as they saw the words. “I killed her” and “In a few days I will be the only one left.”


	31. Chapter 31

It had been a few days since the last incident in the dollhouse, Spencer had spent much of her time when she was knocked out sleeping sobbing and calling out to the others.

She knew their fate was coming closer and closer with every moment that passed in the day. She would lay resting her head against the wall of her prison cell shouting out hoping that any of the girls could hear her. She knew that on the other side of the wall was the other bedrooms that A had caged the girls in. Every time she heard no reply she grew less and less hopeful and more and more worried that A had already killed her.

“Maybe this was her punishment,” she thought to herself, “not ever knowing if her friends were dead yet.”

“This is just like Schrödinger's cat,” She muttered to herself trying to reassure herself, “until this door is opened I am not going to know if they are alive or dead. I can only hope they are alive.”

Spencer passed around her room as she thought of the concept, “but these are my friends I am talking about, and it’s not just a random event that would cause their deaths. A is too cruel not to rub their deaths in my face. They have to be alive.”

Spencer’s thought process continued until she became too worried again and continued to call out at the wall of her prison cell for her friends.

The speaker dinged twice from overhead, Spencer knew it what it meant. The only part of the day where she had any human interaction even if that interaction was from her torturer.

She rushed over to the far side of her room as far as she could away from the door. In her mind, she thought that the further away she was the less likely the chances were that A would come close enough to her. The other reason for staying so far away was that she feared being punished for being too close.

On the first day of A coming into her room she had tried to make a run for it and escape, her adrenalin was pumping too hard and she had forgotten about the collar that restricted her around her neck. The pain had been almost instant, as soon as she tried to move the pain sent her hurtling down towards the floor in pain.

A entered the room, their face was still masked, Spencer couldn’t decide if they continued to do so in order to keep the fear of who it was or if it was because A still believed there was a chance that the girls would escape and reveal who they were. Entering with Spencer’s daily meal and a new jug of water they placed it down on the side before focusing their attention on the frightened girl.

A slowly wandered over to her, Spencer flinched as they placed their gloved hand on her face and stood there for a moment. She tried not to move or cry but she was terrified. A had left her door open on the other side of the room taunting her, they knew she wouldn’t be able to reach it and escape it was just another of their cruel jokes.

A left the room, slamming the door shut behind them. Spencer quickly went to work on her meal, she was so hungry that every bit felt like heaven. Glugging down part of the water she noticed the pills that lay on the tray. Picking them up she chucked them into her mouth and swallowed, she had stopped caring about what happening to her and the drugs were her only way to escaping.

The next day when she awoke her door was wide open, cautiously she peered her head out of the room and surveyed the corridor. No one was there, fearing that this was just another test to see if she would try and escape Spencer walked over to the camera and asked permission if she could go outside.

The speaker quickly responded that she could which delighted the young Hasting, cautiously she picked up the towel which was one of the only things hanging in her bare cupboard and headed towards the shower. She knew she had to be careful, mixing electricity with water was dangerous but she felt too grimy and knew she needed to at least partially wash her body.

After she had finished tidying herself up a bit she wondered into the kitchen, it felt like home. It was one of the few places in the dollhouse that she felt free. Staring up at the camera she continued asking for permission, “May I cook myself some food.”

The speaker replied with a quick “Yes” before allowing Spencer to continue. There was much left in the kitchen, it was obvious that A had been using it too in preparing her meals as she could see the leftovers of the slop on the kitchen surface where it hadn’t been cleaned properly. A obviously didn’t seem to care too much about the person hygiene of the food they had been preparing.

As she cooked she just thought about how much she missed home, she hoped Toby had listened in her letter if he had received it. She worried about her parents, they had never been at home looking after her but she knew that they cared about her. “Heck,” she had thought to herself, she even missed Melissa.

She missed all the school work that she had been given that was her only distraction from A, she hoped with some persuasion if she was good enough in the future she might receive some textbooks that would allow her to carry on with her studies even if she was ever going to get out of the dollhouse alive. She needed the challenge as her brain felt like it was melting with nothing stimulating it.

After a few days, the daily dose of drugs that helped her sleep stopped. Every attempt to try and escape her hellhole through dreams was instantly crushed when an ear-piercing wail would come over the speaks until she would get up from where she collapsed.

Spencer had become extremely sleep deprived, the days seemed to go on forever but Spencer still tried to keep track by marking the walls of her room with the pen that A had left her, she knew there was only a certain amount of ink left in there and sooner or later she was going to lose count.

She knew it had to be about the 10th of May, it was getting closer and closer to her two-month anniversary of her kidnapping.

Eventually, Spencer collapsed again from exhaustion, but this time the alarms didn’t start blaring out they instead just let her sleep.

5 minutes’ past, Spencer’s door creeped open standing in the doorway was the hooded figure again. Slowly they walked over to her body and place their hand on her shoulder. Spencer didn’t move, she was so exhausted that she was out cold. The whole building could have been on fire and she wouldn’t have woken up.

Another figure entered the room carrying a needle, carefully they injected it in Spencer’s arm and waited for the liquid to spread.

“You know what she is going to do?” One of the figures asked as the other one nodded, “Good, make sure you open up the doors for me to pass through, she may just be skin and bones at this point but it’s still difficult to carry her body and open doors at the same time.”

Spencer woke up, the first thing she noticed was that she wasn’t in her room. It was cold and dimly lit.

After straining her eye’s, she realised where she was, the same room where she had been brought to the first time she had entered the Dollhouse. The room where A had killed Mona right in front of her and she couldn’t save her.

Looking over she saw the blood stains that still filled the floor where Mona had taken her last breathes. As she did so she noticed the gun that was lying by her head. Grabbing it quickly in hopes she could use it in self-defence she noticed it was all out of bullets, it was completely useless.

Turning around confused her eyes fell upon three sets of chains that hung from the wall. Spencer choked and spluttered as she saw the bullet holes that littered the wall and the sight of fresh blood that was still oozing to the floor. Her eyes followed the trail of blood as it led to the closed door.

Trembling Spencer looked down at her hand that was now holding the weapon.

“What have I done.”


	32. Chapter 32

Over a month had passed since the girls had last seen each other, although the time they had spent apart felt distorted. With no clocks on the walls, or light streaming into the windows the girls had lost track of what day it was or if it was even night or day.

Emily woke up, she stared ahead as she noticed the clinical white ceiling above her, something about this place seemed familiar. Squinting she realised the effects of the drugs A had given her were beginning to wear off. Even though she was scared to be outside of her bedroom where she had been locked in for the past 3 months she was glad that she wasn’t held up in the torture room that she had heard about.

Sitting up she noticed she was in the fake hospital room that A had set up. Grudgingly she started to move her body, as she did so she noticed her arm was out of in cast.

“Thank god,” Emily thought, “Wait how long does that mean I’ve been stuck here. How long does it take for a broken arm to fully heal?”

Emily went to move her arm, it felt sour and weak. She knew she would have to start exercising it gradually for it to get back to normal but it was a nice start.

Sitting up she squinted as she noticed the x-rays that were not hanging up on the wall, “Are they mine?” she whispered, “How does A have access to this type of medical equipment in a bunker.”

Emily started to check around the room again to make sure she was still in the bunker, the room looked almost identical to the room she had woken up in before and the flashing like from the camera was still popping up every few seconds.

Emily reached around her neck and noticed that the electroshock collar that had been placed on her was currently not there. She sighed with relief before she started to worry that she could just be trapped in a dream and she was just lying unconscious in her bed alone being watched as she lay there vulnerable.

The young girl shivered at the thought of what she had to go through every night when her eye’s felt too heavy and she knew that she had to sleep through to the next day, or at least to what she thought was the next day.

“No, no. This had to be real,” Emily started to herself as she pinched herself to make sure, “Defiantly real.”

For the past few weeks while Emily had been in solitary confinement away from the girls she had spent most of her time working at her puzzle that A had given her as a reward. After it had been destroyed after the kitchen incident Emily had been able to place it all back together in 2 weeks.

After managing that, Emily continued to break apart the puzzle and put it back together piece by piece.  She was on her fourth attempt to put together the puzzle and each and every time she had gotten quicker at placing the pieces in correctly.

As Emily continued to look around the room she noticed a towel at the end of her bed. Cautiously she started to examine in and noticed her name had been embroidered on it. With glee in her eye she turned to the camera and asked politely, “Can I please have a shower?”

The speakers boomed into action, “Yes.”

Emily stepped out of bed, the floor was cold but she didn’t mind, she was going to get to have her first shower for three months.

The door had been left unlocked, Emily surveyed the hallway; no one else had seemed to be left out at the same time as her. Happily, she opened the shower door and hung the towel on the side as she placed her worn clothes on the side and turned on the tap.

Stepping inside she let the water run along her back, it was freezing but it reminded her of home. The shower was the only room without a camera, the only place in the dollhouse she was free.

Aria stayed curled up in the corner of her mattress, she had spent most of her time there. Huddled up staring at the wall as the world carried on outside.

The room had been stripped bare; all the empty books, the lights that had hung from above, the abundant of pillows that had scattered the bed, gone. What little furniture that had been left in the room had been thrown to one side and broken, it lay in a heap collecting dust.

Aria didn’t move much anymore; her petite figure was just growing smaller and smaller as the days went by. She had stopped consuming the food that A had been bringing her and only having a drink when it felt like her mouth was a desert.

She knew the hallucinations she was having was probably from her starving and dehydrating her body, she just needed to get the right balance so that she would be visited every day and night by Ezra but not enough that she was drop down dead and given the satisfaction to A.

Unknowing to Aria, A had grown increasingly worried about the young girl’s state, it was never in their interest to kill off any more of the girl’s. Mona was only practising and fooling Spencer and the Police to the other girl’s deaths were just only fun. Killing of another of the liars just seemed to be pushing everything too far. Anyway, what fun was there if she just starved to death. A was worried drastic actions would have to occur if the girl didn’t start eating soon.

A had set up voices mimicking her loved ones telling her that she had to eat, but they weren’t sure if their voices were helping of they were driving the girl more into insanity.

Aria just stayed cowered in the corner unresponsive whenever she heard them, the scars still visible on her arms and legs of where she had drawn blood.

Hanna, on the other hand, was surviving the best out of all the girl’s, unlike Aria she hadn’t given up hope that they would escape and they she would get to see her family again. She kept imagining repeatedly their faces as they reunited, the tears down her mother’s face as she finally got to see her baby girl again.

Also unlike Aria, her room was still intact. Over the past weeks, she had grown her collection of belongs after being rewarded by A for her good behaviour, she kept eating the food that she received and drank enough water to keep herself hydrated.

On one of her trips outside her bedroom on her own, she had been allowed in the games room where she had asked permission is she could keep the stack of cards in her room. With great relief, she was allowed to. Hanna had started to master staking cards up in towers, it required the patience that she had since acquired since she had been stuck down here.

She had also spent her days reading allowed to herself, she was glad the book she borrowed from Spencer was long as it took her a while to finish reading it before she would start again.

The only thing Hanna missed though was the company, she didn’t know how much more of the solitary she could bare before she grew desperate and crazy for any human contact.

Spencer had hated herself for the past few weeks, she truly believed she was finally alone. The only one of her friends left. Although she knew now that was only partly true now, looking down at the pregnancy test her heart stopped as she saw the two red lines that indicated that a baby was growing inside of her.

She had had her suspicions for a while, ever since she had missed her first period then the bump that was starting to form on her body made it more likely. The fact Spencer had become so skinny made her panic as she was now worried the new foetus wasn’t receiving enough nutrients. She hoped now with confirmation A might increase her daily rations.

She had spent her days reading over biology books that A had allowed to have, ironically she had spent much of her days reading and remembering facts about the human body.


	33. Chapter 33

Emily opened her eyes, reaching out for her neck she passed her hand through her recently dried hair. Grudgingly she realised her collar was now back on once again restricting her movements.

"Great," she muttered as she sat herself up in bed, "I wonder what adventure I have today."

Stumbling out of bed Emily lay down on the floor in preparation to start her daily exercises, she knew that the physical activity although draining was one of the few things that kept her going. The jigsaw although stimulating at first had drawn easier and easier as time went on. Even throwing the pieces in different sections of the room and having to explore everywhere to find the right segment could only get so far.

Emily looked over at the half-finished puzzle, the creepy image of the doll stared back at her, "of course A had to pick a doll," Emily had thought to herself after she had completed most of the puzzle the first time around, "It only makes sense to turn the only form of escapism into a constant reminder."

The young girl started off doing some sit ups, followed by jumping jacks and walking lunges. Next, she tried to do a few push ups since her arm was out of its cast, she knew her arm was weak, but she didn't realise how weak it had become. Collapsing on the floor in exhaustion she went over and sat on her bed, picking up one of her lamps that had some weight to it she started to use it like a dumbbell, hoping that in time she would be able to build up the strength again.

Emily was interrupted from her exercise session from the speaker that called out from the corner of her room, it was unusual for it to speak in the morning, well what Emily presumed to be the mornings at least.

"Bonjour, Guten Morgen, Buenos Dias. Please exit your rooms." The speaker announced.

The doors quiet buzzing stopped, indicating the electromagnets that held it in place had just been turned off. The swimmer was confused, A hadn't let her out for like a month before yesterday, what were the chances that she would have been let out two days in a row.

Cautiously Emily peered her head out of her door, there was nothing horrible waiting for her outside. Carefully she quietly walked over to Hanna's room next to hers. Knocking softly, she stepped back as the door swung open.

"Hanna?" she whispered into the dimly lit room, "Hanna?"

Stepping inside her eye's darted around until they landed on the blonde asleep in her bed, "typical," Emily thought to herself, "She's always the one to lie in."

"Hanna?" Emily called out a bit louder this time, she didn't want to get too close in fear that her friend would have a bad reaction to having a visitor, "Hanna!"

The blonde moaned before reluctantly turning to the door, "Em?"

The Swimmer made a frantic dash towards her friend, it had felt like the longest time that they had seen each other.

"Are you just a dream?" The blonde mumbled as she was pounced on by an overjoyed athlete.

"No, I am very much real," Emily declared happily, as she braised her friend for a hug.

"Oh god Em, what time do you call this. I've only just got to sleep," Hanna continued to moan as she tried to wake herself up.

"It's morning, I think…" Emily replied unsure of herself.

"Wait, your cast. It's gone!" Hanna exclaimed as she became fully awake.

"Yeah, woke up yesterday and it was gone, and I've had a shower," Emily proudly professed.

"Lucky…." Hanna complained.

"Yeah, I can tell you're still waiting for yours," Emily replied in a joking manner.

"Wait, how come you're in my room?" Hanna asked more alert now.

"A let me out," Emily explained, "and if your room is open, maybe the others are too. Come on!"

Grabbing hold of her friend's hand she pulled her out of bed, reaching the hallway once again Emily banged on the door to Spencer's room. The door stayed in place.

"Spence," Hanna called out.

There was no reply.

"What about Aria's?" Hanna processed to say.

Knocking on the door it started to creek open slowly, the room was near black. The only light seemed to come from a now single lightbulb that protruded from the ceiling.

"Aria?" Hanna called out worriedly, Taking Emily's arm the two wondered into the room.

They spotted the petite girl lying on her bed completely still. Looking around they saw that her room was completely bare, Emily budged Hanna in the side and pointed to the untouched figure, before whispering, "The scars."

Hanna shivered as she had an idea of why the room had become so scarce.

"Aria Sweetie, are you awake," Emily called out as she inched her way closer and closer towards the girl. As she did she noticed more of the damage that had been caused. Her clothes hung loosely against her frame and she could tell the severe weight loss.

Reaching over she placed a hand on the petite girls' shoulder. Aria didn't even flinch, it was like all the life had been drained out of her.

Emily started to panic, she wasn't even sure at this point if her friend was even alive. Her skin wasn't particularly warm and it worried her how she just wouldn't respond.

Placing two fingers on the side of Aria neck she let out a sigh, "She's alive."

Hanna processed to move next to Emily, "Aria, can you hear up?", after waiting for a few moments for a reply Hanna turned to Emily and suggested, "Maybe she is just flat out drugged up sleep?"

"I'm not asleep, your just not real," a small voice mumbled.

"Aria, Aria," The two called out in unison.

"Hey, were real. Both Me and Hanna are real and we are right here," Emily called out as she placed her hand on Aria's arm.

"Ar, when was the last time you ate anything," Hanna questioned concerned.

"What does it matter," the voice mumbled, "I'm either going to die here now or just wait and die here later."

"Aria turn around and look at up," Hanna commanded, "You are not going to die down here!"

The petite girl continued to lay perfectly still staring up at the wall.

"Em, grab her arms. She isn't going to believe we are real until she sees us," Hanna ordered as she set herself to grab the girl's legs.

Together the two girls lifted their friend's body. They were unfortunately surprised about how light she had become. As they did so the young girl squawked and squealed in panic before settling down again as she glanced upon her two friends faces.

"There we go," Hanna sighed, "See we are real! No sweetie, when was the last time you ate anything."

"I… I don't know," Aria continued to mumble before letting out a tear.

"Ok, how about we go to the kitchen and cook ourselves something up to eat," Hanna suggested.

Aria didn't respond she stared at the girl's blue eyes.

"I will take that as a yes then," Hanna declared, "Em, can you help me get here to the kitchen."

Both the girls exchanged worried glances as they both knew there was a chance she could just pass out on the way there.

"How about we get you some water first," Emily suggested as she reached down to grab the jug of water that had been left at the side of the bed, "Here you go Aria."

"I'm not thirsty," Aria tried to explain as she flimsy she tried to push the water away from her with no luck.

"Aria you need to drink something, or you're going to collapse," Emily explained.

"I'm fine," The young brunette moaned.

After a few more minutes of pressuring the two were finally able to get Aria to swallow down a few sips of water.

"See, that's a bit better isn't it," Emily reassured, "Right let's get you on your feet."

Both Hanna and Emily lifted Aria from her bed and helped her to her feet. Unsteadily they led her to the kitchen as she clung onto their arms for support.


	34. Chapter 34

Once in the kitchen the two girls say the petite brunette gently down in a chair and started remerging through the cupboards and fridges expecting what they could eat. Most of the products they found were tinned goods and dried consumables.

"Ugh, can't we just have some meat for a change," Hanna moaned.

"Han, we are making a meal for Aria," Emily nudged the girl in the side, "You know our friend, who is a vegetarian."

"Still," Hanna continued, "We still eat meat, what about some of us then."

Emily sighed before looking over at the petite girl that seemed to be in a world of her own, "Aria," she called out with no reply, "Aria."

Walking over she placed her hand on the girl's shoulder and bent down in front of her, "Aria?"

The small girl simply murmured to show she was listening.

"Would you like pasta or rice?" Emily asked in a slow and steady voice.

Aria paused for a moment before responding, "Pasta."

Emily nodded before standing back up and pulling out the pans ready to start cooking.

Once the meal had been completed Hanna and Emily scoffed down the food leaving nothing left on their plate, meanwhile, Aria picked at her food it seemed like her mind was somewhere else.

"Aria, you got to eat," Hanna started to complain, "here look," she announced as she picked up a fork, "here comes the aeroplane."

Aria swiped the fork out of Hanna's hand as it grew closer to her face, Emily spotted a small smirk forming for a second as the fork landed on the ground with a shudder.

"Hey," Hanna half shouted, "Ugh, I'm going to have to clean that up now."

About half an hour dragged on as Aria continued to pick at the now old remains of the dish. Once Emily had silently agreed with Hanna that she had eaten enough they cleaned away the plates and retreated to the games room. A new box was waiting on the table for their arrival.

"Scrabble, "Hanna read as she grew closer, "Why do we have a Spencer game when she isn't even here."

"Look theirs a note," Emily noticed as she picked up the piece of paper, "You girls have been apart for so long thought I would give you 24 hours of freedom."

"Wait freedom? We get to do whatever we want?" Hanna quickly questioned.

"Well I don't think A is letting us get out of here but anything inside must be free game," Emily quickly responded wondering what the girl was getting to.

"Ok," Hanna started as her face lit up, "You take Aria and the game back to your room I am going to have a shower."

"But you don't have a towel," Emily pointed out confused.

"Yep, that's why I'm stealing your one," Hanna replied as she smiled at the clearly not impressed girl.

"Ugh fine, but we have to get Aria washed up as well after," Emily counted.

"Deal," Hanna agreed as she rushed off to get herself washed. Carefully after avoiding the shock collar, the blonde had managed to clean herself to the best of her ability's.

"Oh my god, I feel so clean," Hanna announced as she pounced into the room.

"You smell so much better now too," Emily jokingly retorted.

"Hey," Hanna moaned before realising the girl would have been correct, "Wait," Hanna called out as her eyes fell upon a basket that had been left on the side, "Is that really full of snacks?"

"Yeah, it was there when I got here, there's like everything in there," Emily replied as she noticed the gleam in her friend's eyes.

"This is like the best day ever," Hanna exclaimed as she went over and picked up a chocolate bar.

"Common you can eat that later, help me get Aria into the shower to have a wash, I feel like we should have a sleepover tonight and I'm not sharing my bed until everyone is clean.

Aria didn't speak much during the whole experience; the other girls were still so shocked when they saw the state that her body had been left in. They kept glaring at each other throughout as they noticed more and more horrifying details.

Once Aria had been cleaned up and taken care of the girl's set out the game of scrabble on Emily floor and crowded around it. Aria stayed quiet at the start of the game but as more and more rounds went around she started becoming more talkative like she was starting to believe that she was with her friends.

After a couple hours of playing and a long sprouted argument on the spelling of rhythm, Aria had become slightly more isolated as she grew more exhausted and the girls knew it was probably time to start going to bed.

Aria portioned herself neatly at the side of the bed as she curled up into a little ball, she looked almost peaceful as she fell asleep with the thought in her mind that she might have a safe rest for one night.

Hanna and Emily stayed awake, they hadn't wanted to discuss many of the things from inside the dollhouse in case it had sparked Aria of but now that they were sure she was asleep it was safe enough to talk.

"What's happened with Spencer?" Hanna started to question, the brunette's door hadn't been opened for the whole of the time that they were allowed out and the two of them had grown increasingly worried.

"She is alive, right? Like we would know if she wasn't," Emily whispered.

"You don't think she is working with A?" Hanna questioned as she looked Emily in the eye.

"Of course not Hanna, how can you even suspect that," Emily asked taken aback.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Hanna mumbled.

"She was doing that to protect us, she had been offered a deal with the devil while she was in Radley," Emily protested trying to find a reason to the story.

"How is Radley any different from this place," Hanna pointed out.

Emily paused as she took a deep breath in, "Spencer wouldn't. Maybe she got out? Maybe A is just doing this to torture us. She might be in trouble and we wouldn't even know."

"Calm down Emily," Hanna reassured the girl, "She is probably fine, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said any of the crazy theory's that just can't be true."

Emily simply nodded.

"Hey, do we have any of those chocolate bars I like left in the basket?" Hanna questioned as she peered off to the stockpile that was situated on the other side of Emily.

"No eating in the bed," Emily ordered, "These covers don't exactly get properly cleaned and I don't want to be sleeping in chocolate muck for the next month."

"Fine," Hanna moaned.

Emily looked over Hanna to see the sleeping girl that was still curled up sound asleep next to her, "She looks so peaceful when she is asleep."

"I just want to know what happened to her that has just left her this broken," Hanna commented, "like what did A do in that month and why are we only allowed out now?"

"Maybe it just got to the breaking point and A was just scared that they might lose one of their play toys," Emily suggested.

"Maybe," Hanna agreed, "Hey Em, can we like snuggle. I miss the human contact."

"Sure," Emily approved as she grew closer to the other girl.

"Just, no gay stuff alright," Hanna warned.

Emily sighed, "Hanna seriously.

"What," the blonde innocently exclaimed.

"I've missed you too," Emily whispered.

Both girls quickly fell asleep in each other's protective arms feeling safe for the first time since they had first been kidnapped.


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, its shorter than normal, I couldn't think of anything else without removing the dramatic effect.
> 
> Reviews are always appreciated, I'm going to be talking about the last episode at the end of this so Spoilers to come

Emily woke up, her whole body felt groggy like she had been pulled through a hedge backwards while drunk. She couldn’t tell if she just hadn’t opened her eyes or if the room she was now in was just pitch black. Holding up her hand close in front of her face, she couldn’t tell they it was there, she wriggled her fingers centimetres away but she couldn’t see any change in motion.

Sighing she tried to look at her from where she had been lying on the floor, there was blackness for what seemed like miles, no sign of life or light anywhere.

“Hello,” Emily called out worriedly, the last thing she could remember was being tucked up in bed next to Hanna and Aria.

“Hanna!? Aria!?” She called out into the darkness,” Is anyone there? Spencer!?”

Emily’s cries for help were left with only silence. Feeling around her in the darkness all her hands met was a rough concrete floor, even so, it didn’t seem like she was chained up.

“Maybe,” She thought to herself,” Maybe this is the place all the others have visited.”

Emily shivered at the thought, she knew what had happened in that room and if that was where she was then she could have potentially been in a lot of trouble.

As quick a lightning strike Emily realised that there mustn’t be any cameras in the room, all of the cameras around the dollhouse had a singular red blinking light when they were operating. She felt like she was truly alone. No A, no friends, just her sitting along in the darkness.

Although at the thought of that a hooded figure appeared in the darkness, the harsh sound of footprints left a mark in the air. The light didn’t seem to be coming from anywhere, but the black hoodie became more and more illuminated as it grew closer.

Scared Emily started to back away, she knew she was trapped but she might as well try and run away from her ultimate demise. As she backed away further and further into the darkness she trembled to her feet and started to run away from the figure as fast as she could. Although as fast as she ran the figure was always just two steps behind her.

Emily cried out in pain as the figure had caught up with her, stomping on her leg she felt the entire pain fill up her body as she collapsed to the floor nursing her injured leg at the same time as trying to protect her from the monster that lurked in the shadows.

With fear in her eye’s Emily’s vision darted around the room hoping to catch a glance at the figure that was out there.

A loud thud in front of her caught her attention as she felt herself being pulled up by the collar that was still around her neck. She felt so weak, she kept her eye’s closed as she felt the breath of her kidnapped envelop her face. She couldn’t understand why A hadn’t just shocked her collar as she had been running away, maybe A wanted to play.

She knew if she opened her eye’s then she could catch the face of the evil that haunted her, the thought that after all this time she could finally know scared her. If she knew the face of her attacker would that mean that she would never be able to escape from their prison alive?

“Please, please don’t kill me,” Emily begged.

The figure laughed an almost recognisable laugh.

Emily's eyes snapped open, she could wait any longer to confirm the voice she thought she heard, “Spencer?!”

The swimmer studied her friend's physical appearance, she seemed healthier than when she had last seen her. Stronger, her face no longer hollow from the starvation that bound her.

“Why,” Emily stuttered, “Why are you doing this?”

Spencer could only laugh, as the frightened girl looked onwards fearful for an answer.

“You stupid girls,” Spencer spat in her face, “You just run around never thinking of the consequences. No one cares about you anymore. Everyone is glad that you are gone, the police have even stopped looking for your bodies.”

“Spencer, please,” Emily begged.

“Silence,” Spencer shouted as she threw the famished girl against a wall and watched her crumple to the floor, “All you stupid girls just need to feel a little pain, it’s payback for all the people you have hurt.”

From behind her Spencer pulled out a glowing rod, bright burning heat radiated from it as it grew closer and closer towards Emily’s delicate skin.

“Spencer, please don’t do this. Why are you doing this,” Emily exclaimed in fear.

As flaming rod grew closer and closer Emily squirmed, as the hot poker pressed up against her skin she let out a blood-curdling scream.

“Emily wake up, wake up,” Hanna grudgingly shouted at her best friend as she tried to shake her awake.

Emily shot up, she was still in bed. She was still safe. A pool of sweat had started to form around her and she felt like she was burning up. She couldn’t breathe, it all felt too much. Trying hard she kept gasping out for breath.

“you’re ok, you’re ok,” Hanna tried to comfort her as the small girl on her other side just sat up in shock.

“It,” Emily stuttered as she tried to gulp down air, “It was Spencer, she was A.”

“It was just a bad dream,” Hanna tried to comfort her, giving her a small embrace.

“but what if it’s true.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS FOR LAST EPISODE
> 
> This chapter was planned long before the AD reveal which is funny cause of the dream reveal of Spencer being AD and then it actually being Spencer's twin in the show. It just reminds me that I wrote my chapter of the monopoly game for A's dolls then I a few days later I found out about the actual board game in pll, just kinda creepy.
> 
> I know there were mixed reviews about the last episode, I personally love it. I've been aboard the twincer train for so long now that I had like eliminated everyone else as a suspect. I loved that Wren was turned into a diamond like it just creeped me out so much. The accent I thought was bit overdone when Alex was excited but apart from that I thought it was pretty decent for an American.
> 
> I have plans for a fanfiction based on the last episode once this story wraps up (It will finish at some point) and I will do that along side my other project Superhero Spence? Which you should totally check out if that's your kind of thing, it doesn't get as much love as my others.
> 
> If you need anyone to rant to about the episode as you don't have anyone that will listen my inbox is always open, and if you have any idea's for this fanfiction I have planned, (Which is will be exploring the darker side if Alex wasn't found out, cause who doesn't love a good dark story) feel free to message me I love hearing all your ideas.
> 
> Till next week
> 
> -Unicow


	36. Chapter 36

Aria sighed, she continued to look at the neatly presented birthday cake that had been left on her desk in the middle of the night. She couldn’t believe it was already her birthday nearly four months after she had been kidnapped, the days didn’t seem to add up.

Aria knew she wasn’t going to pass up the free cake, it wasn’t often that the girls had received anything other than the bland food that they normally got severed. Getting up she tried opening the door, locked.

Confused she peered over at the cake as she read the top, “Happy birthday, enjoy this all to yourself.”

“What,” Aria thought, when it had been Spencer’s birthday the girls had each received a cake each but now It seemed like this one was just going to be for her. It made her feel guilty that she was getting a seeming massive cake that had a higher calorie count than she would receive in a week.

Picking up the plates from which the cake was resting she noticed there was no cutlery to go with it and the door being unlocked Aria was unable to get any from the kitchen.

“Hands it is then,” She spoke out loud determinably as she walked over to her bed sat down and sank her fingers into the gooey icing on top.

Aria’s bedroom still looked bare from the emotional meltdown she had suffered 2 months prior, even though Emily and Hanna had managed to finally get her out of her deeply depressed state a bit she still hadn’t been allowed items in her room for fear that she would try to hurt herself again.

Being along wasn’t as bad anymore, she was let out more regularly than before and she saw both Hanna and Emily about every other day. There was a fresh meal waiting for her every day when the bell rang for her to go to the kitchen and music was often played through the speakers when she lay awake on her bed during what she thought was the day.

It was kind of relaxing not having to worry about anything, she knew A was so scared of her breaking that they wouldn’t dare to do anything too soon again. The only thing she had to worry about was Spencer, it had been 10 weeks since she had seen the girl. She knew down deep inside that she was alive, she had to be alive somewhere.

After managing to get halfway through the cake Aria started to give up, she felt like her stomach might burst open. Going from not eating much a day to having what used to be able to gouge herself on made Aria realise how much her body had changed since her departure into the darkness of the dollhouse where the sun never shone.

Although she no longer felt hungry her body visually did, she hadn’t gained back the weight that she had dramatically lost and the fact she was still wearing the clothes that she had arrived in just made her scrawny features more prominent.

Aria sighed as she looked down at the cake and decided she should stop eating, it would be dangerous to continue. Looking up at the camera she seemed to plead with it without making a sound for her to be let out to see her friends. Aria wasn’t expecting to get a reply instantly, she knew that despite the fact A seemed to be everywhere they weren’t always watching and listening.

Surprisingly though this was one of the new few days she was immediately replied to, “You may leave once you finish your treat.”

Aria looked down at her half-eaten cake, her stomach turned just at the idea of finishing eating it.

“Do I have too,” Aria pleaded, “I’ll finish it later.”

The speaker piped up again, “I made this cake especially for you, don’t make me regret baking it for you.”

Aria looked back down at the cake, she was impressed that A had the skills to make a cake like this. It was one of the best-tasting things she had eaten for a while.

“I’m sure the others would love to have some,” Aria continued.

“I didn’t make it for my other dolls,” Aria flinched at the word but said nothing, she had gone past the point where she would make a fuss, “I made it all for you.”

Aria looked defeated, she wanted to see her friends desperately especially since it was her birthday. She could only imagine what her family were dealing with on the day when she still was missing from their lives.

After another hour of picking at the remains of the cake Aria proudly presented it to the camera, “See all done, Can I see the other’s now.”  felt like a child having to ask her parent to leave the dinner table, the new relationship that was forming with A was becoming strange but no longer scary.

The door buzzed open as a sign of acceptance and Aria happily skipped over to her to friends room and barged inside first dragging Emily by the hand to Hanna’s room where she was still crashed out on the bed sleeping.

“Guess what day it is today,” Was all Aria could say as Hanna started to whine about being woken up.

“A school day,” Hanna complained, “Cause otherwise why are you waking me up this early otherwise.”

“Hanna, it’s the middle of the day,” Emily assumed.

“Actually… It’s my birthday,” Aria announced.

“Seriously,” Hanna shot up, “It’s been that long.”

“So, where’s the cake?” Emily asked remembering what had happened for Spencer’s birthday, “Also, just promise me you won’t go all Spencer and trip of what happened last time.”

“I…I kind of ate all of the cake,” Aria sheepishly replied.

“Hey, don’t you know about sharing!” Hanna shoved the petite girl lightly as her mouth watered at the thought of cake.

“Sorry, I wasn’t allowed to leave my room till I ate it all by myself,” Aria whispered.

“It’s alright,” Emily replied, “There’s always next year.”

Hanna shot Emily a look, “Don’t say that.”

“So… Aria,” You get any gifts?” Emily questioned trying to change the subject.

“Considering I wasn’t even trusted enough to have a fork nope,” Aria retorted, “At least I haven’t got it yet.”

“Have you checked the game’s room?” Emily asked,” A had left things in their before.”

“No, went straight to you guys,” Aria confirmed, “But we can take a look anyway.”

The three girl’s walked down the darkened corridor stopping briefly at their other best room in hope to hear some kind of life but getting back nothing.

As they got closer to the room the girl’s started to notice sounds coming from it.

“Wait, where are those voices coming from,” Hanna questioned.

“I think they might be in the game’s room,” Emily replied, “Perhaps It’s Aria’s present?”

The girl’s entered the room. Immediately they noticed a small roll in TV sitting on a trolley by the wall behind the table. On the screen were recordings live or pre-recorded it was unclear, but the recording of their hometown, with the screen currently focussing on a very sad teacher.

* * *

 

Spencer sat alone in her room with a mountain of books stacked up behind her bed. There was everything from basic human biology to nature books and how to knit. On her bedside table was a half finished pale yellow woollen cardigan with the knitting needles still attached to it.

Spencer stroked her belly, it had grown considerably in the time she has locked away and it was comforting to think that soon she wouldn’t be alone.

The guilt of thinking she had murdered her best friends had taken a toll on her mental health with the nightmares growing increasingly worse as the days went by. She believed that she deserved to be punished, she might as well rot away here where she had two meals a day and a clean room instead of a prison cell.

The young women had a shine to her which was accompanied by the fact that she no longer looked like she was just skin and bones. She has put back on the weight that she had lost from the starvation sessions and was actually in pretty good physical condition.

Speaking softly Spencer continued to stroke her stomach as she talked gently to her unborn baby, “Your daddy would have been a great father to you, one day. You are going to get to meet him and he will love you as much as I love him. We are going to get out of here, you will grow up in the sun, we will go on road trips to the countryside with all the fields and the fresh air. Oh, I miss the sun. Me and Daddy will get a small cottage maybe were you can grow up, in a nice quiet area where we won’t be disturbed. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

Spencer sighed as she collapsed lying on her bed as she looked up to the defeated, “One day.”


	37. Chapter 37

Aria continued to stare at the TV screen that was still in the games room.

“What you watching?” Hanna questioned as she walked into the room.

“The brew,” Aria instantly replied, she didn’t turn her head to look at the blonde girl entering, “My mom’s there.”

Aria was sitting on one of the game room chairs, she had pulled the table up to be behind her and the new monitor stood an arms width away.

“No chance you can change the channel, like to something where you aren’t stalking anyone.” Hanna jokingly asked.

Aria’s eye’s stayed plastered onto the monitor like it was the only thing that was holding her onto reality, “Hanna. It’s your mom.” Aria announced as she pointed to the screen.

“Wait where ” Hanna excited asked as she grew closer to the screen and pulled up a chair. Hanna watched as the older Marin walked into the coffee shop and order her drink, before walking over to where Ella had been sitting and setting down her drink and relaxing.

“Do you have any idea what they are saying, like why can’t these have sound?” Hanna complained.

“It doesn’t have sound as it’s the brews actually CCTV camera not one A installed,” Aria explained like it was one of the most normal things in the world. Pausing for a second she squinted her eyes as she watched the women’s lips move. “Um, my mom said, how… you. How are you? Then you mom, b… b... I think she said were better. Sorry, I’m not very good at this, it doesn’t help the video quality isn’t the best.”

“It’s alright,” Hanna sighed, “Well at least she isn’t in the hospital, from all of the information I’ve received about how she is doing hasn’t been too positive. Aria, how much time have you actually spent in here.”

Aria paused and thought for a second calculating the days in her head, “It’s been like five weeks since my birthday. I’ve spent most my time in here when I’ve been allowed out that is.”

“I wish me and Em would be allowed out as much as you,” Hanna bitterly spoke.

“You can change the channel by the way,” Aria interrupted, “You asked. We have the brew, our houses, the school and the police station,” Aria paused, “And I have Ezra’s apartment. It’s brilliant all this time we can see the police station but they are still failing and trying to find us.”

“Typical,” Hanna mumbled, “How’s Ali been?”

The girls had quickly realised that Alison must have been let out of prison after they spotted her turning up to the police station not sporting an orange jumpsuit with matching handcuffs. They were glad that she had been found innocent of Mona’s murder but the look that she seemed to have on her face every time she showed up somewhere around town was just filled with despair.

“I haven’t seen her much,” Aria responded, “I’ve seen her a few times at the station checking up on our case a few times a week but apart from that I don’t think she really leaves home much. She just seems to be locking herself away from the world. I wonder if A is just leaving her alone now.”

“Unless A wants Ali too,” Hanna suggested.

“Ali has been out for weeks, if anything was going to happen it would have happened by now. Maybe having to deal with three dolls is enough for now.” Aria proposed.

“Four,” Hanna corrected her.

“What,” Aria uttered confused.

“Four dolls,” Hanna repeated, “There is four of us.”

“We haven’t seen Spencer in months,” Aria replied as she avoided eye contact.

“She’s alive, she has to be alive. So, four dolls,” Hanna restated.

 Aria just nodded, she had lost hope that her friend was still in the bunker and since she wasn’t in rosewood either Aria could only expect the worse that she had served the same ending as Mona.

Emily meanwhile paced up and down in her room, she had heard the announcement that both Aria and Hanna had been let out of their rooms and she was just waiting for the voice to pick up again to allow her to leave.

It was odd how on occasions A let the girls out on time delayed like A was punishing or rewarding them however they felt fit. Emily shrugged it off, it wasn’t the weirdest thing to happen to them. If A was taking favourites it seemed to be random every day.

Emily looked at her door once again, it was going to be the day that she would finally put her plan into action. She felt guilty that she hadn’t told the others about her soon to be an attempt to escape but she knew they would be safer if they didn’t know about it. It would be too hard for her to be able to tell them without A finding out and putting an end to it like they did with Aria. Emily didn’t really fancy the idea of being locked up in a box with a dead girl.

In order for there to be no chance that A would figure out the plan before she carried it out Emily had left nothing to chance. She hadn’t written down any of her plans, the map she had drawn up from exploring what she could of the dollhouse was all stored in her head. The normal routine, meal times and permission to free roam where all considered carefully in the plan.

To her the plan was simple, she had spent the past month organising is, everything had to go per plan. Emily knew there had to be a way that A was getting in and out of their section of the bunker. After ruling out the possibility that the only exit was through one of the doors that was yet to be opened to them Emily had explored the option of a secret passage or door being hidden somewhere in the dollhouse.

She had concluded that there was a passage of sorts behind the cupboard in the games room, occasionally she had felt a soft breeze come from that direction but she was too scared to explore it when A was watching.

After tinkering with her collar, she had figured out how to disable It, the next stage would be to go to the kitchen to grab a knife as a weapon. It was too risky to keep the knife in her room beforehand, but to get to the kitchen she would need to escape her room and get through the door. Emily had thought out how to do it, she had been collecting beads or any object which should block the door from completely closing in her pillow case and now deciding the time was right she was going to place them in the door frame so with enough force the doors would be able to open.

She felt guilty that she was going to escape without her friends, Emily knew it was risky but the only way would be to make an escape to find help and hopefully round up enough people to save her friends before A took them away from her forever. It was a risk she was going to have to take.

Finally, the door opened and Emily walked down the narrow corridor towards the games room hoping it would be the last time she had to do it. Entering the room, she saw the two other girls sitting on their chairs facing the monitor that was still tuned into the brew CCTV.

“Anything new?” the swimmer asked as she sat down in one of the remaining chairs.

“My moms at the brew with Arias. It’s like their meeting up or something,” Hanna explained not turning around.

“Any news on the Ali front,” Emily asked already knowing what the answer would be.

“None,” Aria quickly replied.

“What have our lives become, we stalk people now like A stalked us,” Emily muttered.

“Don’t sound ungrateful, I don’t want A taking this away,” Aria quickly begged as she turned around to give Emily a look.

Emily took in a deep breath as she heard the speaker speak up once again, she hadn’t been let out for long at all.

“I love you guys, you know that right,” Emily stated.

“What’s this about, you will probably get to see us tomorrow,” Hanna asked confused.

“Yeah, maybe,” Emily mumbled, “Just know how much I love you guys. I’ll see you soon then. Hopefully, bye,”

“See you tomorrow Em,” Aria replied, sad that they had to leave so soon.

“What’s up with her?” Hanna asked when Emily was finally out of ear shot.

“You’ve been in here for 5 months now, maybe it’s just that,” Aria suggested.

“Maybe…” Hanna agreed.

Emily continued walking away until she got to the kitchen and swiftly placed a bead in the locking mechanism. Next, she went to her room and did the same before closing the door behind her. Carefully she repeated the plan over and over in her head as she decided to wait a few hours before carrying it out.


	38. Chapter 38

The door buzzed to Spencer’s room, it was the time that she was allowed out. After all the time of her being alone mainly locked away in her room, she had been allowed to regularly leave her prison cell to cook nutritious meals in the kitchen. A had even got her a cook book and fresh ingredients from “Eating well when you’re expecting.”

It surprised her how much A seemed to care about un born child, it would have been so easy for them just to beat her until her body couldn’t handle supporting another life after her own.

Spencer’s latest meal was quite basic despite the improvement to the previous severing, the fish, potatoes and beans were easy enough for Spencer to prepare and cook and she knew the nutritious value of all the items from all the books she had been studying.

It was very clear at this point that Spencer was heavily pregnant, the new maternity clothes that she had been given meant that she could at least cover up the emerging bump instead of it being constantly on the show as her old top would no longer cover her stomach. Despite the collar that still hung around her neck she was relatively clean having at least weekly full body washings and occasionally having proper showers if A permitted for the collar to be momentarily taken off.

The collar had become more of a deterrent than having any other use, it had been a month since Spencer had felt a shockwave pass down her neck and she wasn’t sure if the lack of punishment could just be because of her state.

The mental effect of being effectively alone had taken its tole done on the girl’s mental health, often she would look up to the camera that would watch her wander around and mutter words to herself and her unborn baby.

Once Spencer had finished her meal she cleaned up the mess that she had made, she knew A wouldn’t be happy if she left them with a kafuffle to clean up after her. She knew it would just be better not to anger the beast. Carelessly she ran her hands along the counter feeling the smooth surface then walked out of the kitchen and slowly started to wander back to the comfort of her cell.

Emily knew she had to be quick, one she deactivated her collar it would only be a matter of time before A started to go after her. Fiddling with the collar beneath her bed sheets she finally managed to wriggle it loose and yank it off her neck. With a spike of adrenalin, Emily shot out of bed, the first stop, the kitchen would supply her with the weaponry she needed to threaten her way to safety if it came down to it.

Emily’s heart was pumping hard, she could hear it pounding away in her chest, jumping out of her room she started sprinting down the corridor ready to turn the bend. As she did so her heart stopped.

Standing a couple of metres away from her was a tall brunette, her face was flushed and her eyes were wide with complete shock. Emily couldn’t speak she just kept looking the healthy girl up and down as they both stared in silence. Her eyes stopped as they fell upon Spencer’s stomach.

Emily gulped, “She’s pregnant,” She whispered under her breath quiet enough that no one would hear her.

Emily couldn’t understand, her brain felt like it was going to explode. She hadn’t seen the girl in months and for all that time she had been thinking some awful thoughts of what could have happened. Emily noticed the collar situated around Spencer’s neck too. That ruled out the chance that the young Hasting had been working with the enemy.

The other thoughts that she could either be dead or managed to escape now proving to be incorrect. Emily never suspected that this could have been what was happening. It suddenly hit her, Spencer’s panic about a possible pregnancy right before the alarms started to blare as Aria’s screams had filled the room. She had just put it down to stress or any other reason why the girl hadn’t had her period since she had been trapped in the dollhouse.

Emily didn’t know what to do, her plan of escape now seemed like a distant memory. There was no way she could leave the young Hasting especially in her state but the chances that she would be able to escape just seemed to get slimmer and slimmer by each passing second.

Spencer continued to stare at her friend, it was like looking at a ghost. Nothing made sense, for months she had been led to believe that she had killed the girl. Shot her then waited as she bled out and got taken away, but all evidence now pointed away from the lie. There was Emily standing right in front of her breathing, skinny beyond comparison but physically unharmed. Spencer’s world seemed to come crashing down she couldn’t hold back the tears that started to form.

After what seemed like an eternity of silence Emily started to rush towards her friend, as she did so Spencer fell to her knee’s in pain. The shocking pain radiating through her body. A had found them.

Spencer clutched onto her stomach like she was trying to protect it as much as possible. Emily stopped dead in her tracks as a voice boomed through the corridor, “Don’t move, every step you take I will increase the pain.”

Emily watched the young girl weep as she stayed stuck on the floor, the chances she could make it out where diminutive. The only way would be to ditch her best friend in the corridor and try and make a break for it and even though there was only a small chance this would work she knew the consequences it would put onto Spencer would not be worth it.

The pain stopped as Emily refused to move from the spot, Spencer gradually got up from her knee’s, clutching her stomach as her legs trembled beneath her.

“The others... Are they dead?”

“No,” Emily instantly replied confusion spread over her face.

Spencer started to break down again, “I… I thought. I thought I killed you all.”

Emily’s heart broke as she heard the words the girl muttered between sobs, the realisation of how long she had spelt alone probably thinking for the whole of that duration that she had murdered three of her best friends. Emily felt a pain of guilt that she could have ever thought anything less of the Hasting.

“Please return to your rooms,” The speaker announced.

Emily looked over at the quivering girl that just returned a pleading look to please do as she was told so that she wouldn’t have to deal with even more pain. With a tear rolling down her cheek she slowly backed away down towards her room not taking her eyes off Spencer before she turned the corner and hard to brave entering her dungeon once again.

Once Emily entered her room the door slammed shut behind her, Emily knew due to the beads placed that she would be able to open it again with force but it didn’t seem safe enough for Spencer’s sake to do so.

A hundred thoughts raced through Emily's head as she was interrupted by her rooms door opening and a hooded figure entering the frame. Emily knew she could probably take her attacker on until she saw the second figure following close behind.

Desperate she tried to lash out as they came closer, with no collar to restrain her from a violent outbreak there was no way to stop her immediately in her tracks.

Emily's eye’s shot open as she saw the cattle prod held tightly in the second's figures to hand, from the lack of food Emily, was weak and the two figures easily overpowered her. Dragging her kicking and screaming they chained her to her bed by her hands and feet. The first figure pulled out a cloth which they used to bound her mouth to muffle the screams as the second figure burned marks into the swimmer's skin.


	39. Chapter 39

Spencer continued to stare up at the camera, it had been a week since she had seen Emily. The young Hasting could just picture the image of shock on the swimmers face when she had run into her. She knew since A had used her as a human shield that she must have caught the young girl during an escape attempt since she did not have her collar around her neck but she could still see the mark that it had left.

She knew that once Emily had been forced to return to her room there must have been severe consequences for her actions just like what Aria was forced to go through when A had found her drawing of the dollhouse that she was using to prepare for an escape. Since Emily had managed to get further along with her plan before getting caught Spencer could only presume that whatever happened had to be worse than being trapped in a box with a corpse.

"I know you are watching," Spencer started to say, "I know they are not dead."

Ever since she had found out that she hadn't murdered her three best friends but instead had been tricked Spencer had had a skip in her step and a more positive attitude to go with it.

No more would she just let the world pass her by as she continued to rot unquestioning in her cell, If A wanted to keep her locked away in a bunker it would at least be with her friends.

"Let me out, let me see them," Spencer demanded, "I'll do whatever you want just let me see them"

Spencer's pleas were only met with silence and the small flashing red light that continued to glow on the camera that was pointed straight towards her.

Spencer was starting to get impatient, she had been asking for a week but still no answer. She knew that she was going to have to take desperate measures.

"I'll stop eating, I won't eat a thing," Spencer blurted out, she paused for a moment thinking of the consequences it would have on her body if she carried through with the plan, "You know what that will do to my body, what it will do to the baby's body. Do you think it will be able to survive that?"

Spencer was counting that the hunger strike wouldn't last long, A seemed to care too much about the kid for them to now decide that they should throw away its life. Spencer had become used to hallucinating due to being alone constantly, she needed something to be real for a change. She needed to see her friends.

Silence only continued, and Spencer decided that this was something she was just going to have to do.

* * *

Two days' past, but it had been ten days since Hanna and Aria had seemed Emily.

"What did she do?" Hanna asked for the twentieth time that week.

"How am I meant to know, she was obviously trying to do something over wise she wouldn't have said how much we mean to her," Aria replied as she walked with the blonde down the corridor.

The lights flashed the floor lighting up where the girls were meant to go, as they both turned the corner they saw the lights leading a room that they both had never been into before.

"Where is A taking us?" Hanna timidly asked.

"I'm not sure, I've never been in there," Aria replied equally nervous.

The girls both proceeded closer to the open door as they clutched onto each other's arms.

Walking in they saw there was no immediate danger, the room was nearly bare. I light hung overhead of a table that was surrounded by four chairs. A couple of box's lay on the table and a camera was positioned watching them from the corner of the room.

"Um, what's all this," Aria questioned as she walked towards the box's and started to expect the contents, the young girl gulped as she turned and looked at Hanna, "Party supply's."

Both girls looked up at the camera confused as they waited for the voice in the sky to give them an answer to the question they were both wonderings.

"It's time for celebration, so better get decorating,"

"Celebration?" Hanna whispered confused, "but I can't be Emily's birthday yet. That's in October, Celebrating an anniversary of Ali's disappearance maybe? That was round about this time."

"Why would we be celebrating that?" Aria whispered back.

"A's sick ok, what else could it be," Hanna quietly replied.

Aria continued to rummage through the boxes as she pulled out a banner, "Happy six months…."

"It's been six months? Half a year!" Hanna yelled, "A has freaking kept us locked down here for that long."

"I suppose it has been that long, but six months for who? We all got down here on different dates," Aria questioned the camera

"Six months since Spencer Hastings," The voice responded.

Aria gulped, as she heard the name. Looking around she suddenly twigged that there were four chairs around the table. Did that mean that Spencer was still alive down there with them?

"Where is Spencer?" Aria asked the camera with a slight increase in determination.

The speaker ignored Aria's question instead of responding, "Once you have finished setting up your guests will be arriving."

"Guests?" Hanna mouthed, both unsure if that meant both Emily and Spencer or if there would be other invited guests, "I suppose we better get started."

The girls worked for an hour setting up, the room by the end still looked grim but the flaky walls and the table had been covered up.

"Please take your seats, your guests will be arriving soon." The speaker announced as the room fell into silence and the two girls just looked at each other in fear.

* * *

Emily continued to lay in her bed chained up, she had lost count on how long she had laid there. A had visited her multiple times to give her food and drink, having to force her to eat as Emily was even unable to feed herself with her hands still chained up.

Both her wrists and ankles stung in pain from where the chains clung around them and rubbed against her skin when she moved. Her sides hurt still from when A had burned her skin with a branding iron and felt raw from where it was just left untreated.

Relaxing Emily became more awake as she heard her door opening once again and saw the hooded figure come closer to here. They were joined again by another figure entering shortly after. Emily shuddered at the thought of why they needed two people.

Emily closed her eyes as she tried to pretend all the situation wasn't real, taking in a deep breath she felt her hands become looser as she opened her eye's she saw A was unlocking the chains from around her bed. Now she understood why there needed to be two of them, in case she decided to kick off again. Emily knew it wouldn't be worth it, it would only end in more pain.

Emily waited patiently as the figures continued to unlock the chains that bound her to the bed, neither of them speaking as they did so.

Roughly one of the figures forced the swimmer to sit up and swing her legs over the side of the bed, Emily felt sore it was the first time she had moved in a week. One of the figures forced Emily's arms behind her back and cuffed them together while the other bent down to her feet and placed a new set of cuffs that allowed her to walk slightly.

Pushing her back Emily was forced to stand up and was quietly led out of the room, she shivered with each small step not knowing where she was being led to. Emily kept being pushed forward as she tried to keep up with the pace. She could see the room she was being led to the door was open but she had never been in there before.

Stepping closer she heard some gasps as one of the figures entered followed by looks of shock as she saw her friends staring up at her. Aria and Hanna didn't move, they were too scared both girls looked confused as they saw their friend being led in my chains and forced to sit down before the chains were quickly attached to the chair and the two members of the A team leave the room.

"Hey, guys..." Emily quietly announced.

"What the hell happened to you," Hanna blurted out.

"I tried to escape and well, Spencer is still alive," Emily timidly explained.

"Spencer stopped you?!" Hanna yelled, "Why did she stop you I thought we were friends."

"Spencer thought she had killed us," Emily paused, "And well… She is kind of very pregnant."


	40. Chapter 40

"Spencer's pregnant," Hanna exclaimed, her eye's wide in shock.

"Very much so," Emily replied as she looked at the confused and shocked girls.

"Wait," Aria butted in, "She… She thought we were dead? For how long?"

The girls stayed silent for a moment not wanting to know the answer.

"How is she?" Hanna questioned.

"If this was the six-month anniversary," Aria started to calculate in her head, "Then just how much of this has she been alone for."

"Too long."

Spencer walked into the room, standing by the doorway announcing her entrance. There were tears forming in her eyes and her protruding belly was obvious for anyone to see.

All the girls could do was stare at her for a moment wondering if she was real or if they were having a drugged induced group hallucination. Aria was the first to snap out of her daze as she shot up from the chair throwing in backwards crashing down to the floor as she ran towards the pregnant girl and embraced her.

Hanna wasn't far behind mumbling the girl name as she joined in the group hug. Emily stayed where she was constrained by the chains that tied her to the chair.

"Hey. Hey, careful there," Spencer let out a tearful laugh, "baby on board."

The girls stood back as they admired Spencer's body.

"Oh, my god Spence," Hanna blurted out, "You're huge!"

It was true that the girl's stomach had indeed grown in size since the groups the last meeting, her top clean and new hung nicely covering the growing bump and the life inside of it. Her skin seemed to glow and her cheekbones no longer protruded from her face as they did with the others. Spencer's hair seemed slightly shorter since they had last seen her and there didn't seem to be as much of a build-up of grease or dirt. Her skin also seemed clear and clean.

The three girls continued to look at her, Emily bending her head around as much as she could to catch a glimpse. Aria raised her fragile hand to wipe away a tear that was falling down her face. The dark purple under her eyes shone out in comparison to her unnaturally white skin.

"Can we go sit down," Spencer asked the silent group, "I kind of haven't eaten in a few days and my body isn't feeling so good."

"You look freaking amazing," Hanna breathed as she looked down at her own skeleton of a frame. While Spencer had been receiving three meals a day the rest of them was getting just enough to live on.

"Sure. Sure," Aria agreed as she went back to her seat, pulled it back up from the floor and sat in it leaning her elbows on the table as she watched the once missing girl with great interest.

Spencer sat down opposite Emily, the last free seat. Despite now being surrounded by her best friends Spencer continued to fidget and look around the room nervously mapping out any possible exits and air vents that she knew would release gas at the push of a button.

The door stayed wide open, the dim light of the room creeping into the hallway. It showed as a reminder that although the door was still open they were still trapped down there unable to escape.

As if on cue in the moment of silence in the group the two previous figures still dressed in black, their faces still covered entered the room carrying in both hands a small plate full of food for each of the liars.

Spencer stayed completely still, she stared at the table in front of her not wanting to look her captures in the eye. She had seen a lot more of the A team then the rest of the girls had and was no longer curious to try and figure out who was under the masks.

The other girls couldn't help but stare as they entered, they were unsure if the food was the only reason that they were instructed to come in. Despite the fact, the food they were holding looked incredibly delicious they weren't sure if they could trust eating it without it being drugged.

As the figures grew closer they could only try and shuffle their body's away slightly as to not let the captures touch them as they passed through.

"Enjoy your starters," A voice modular from one of the figures roughly alleged before the two of them once again disappeared again leaving the door wide open.

Spencer picked up the fork that laid on the plate that has been brought in and started to tuck into the meal with great relief to her stomach which had been growing. The others just stared down at their plates unsure if they should take the first bite, it wasn't very often that A was nice to them.

"We can swap if you want," Spencer spoke out loud as she looked up from consuming her meal, "A wouldn't drug the pregnant girl you know. It just hasn't been their style."

The girls looked at each other before Aria spoke up, "It's fine Spence, we trust you. Dig in I suppose."

Aria picked up the fork and stabbed a piece of salad on her plate before slowly chewing and swallowing. Both Hanna and Emily looked on half expecting for Aria to start coughing up blood or having something equally bad happen – but nothing did.

"Well, bon appetit," Hanna agreed picking up her fork as well.

"I suppose I'll help you with your food Em, since you're kind of tied up at the moment,"

"Thanks," Emily mumbled feeling awkward in the situation.

"Here comes the aeroplane," Aria joked lifting some of the food up to Emily's mouth.

Emily looked at Aria with a deadpan expression, "Really Aria, I'm not four."

"Sorry," Aria muttered as she continued to eat her own food and help her friend with hers.

"So Em," Hanna started to ask with curiosity, "How did you get your collar off?"

"I really don't think you want to know," Emily sheepishly replied, "I don't think the chains are just for the punishment. A needed a new way to be able to control me."

Spencer avoided eye contact with Emily, either looking at the other two girls or looking down at her meal.

"It's ok," Emily spoke out, directing the comment at Spencer, "It's not your fault you know. Spencer."

The girl looked up as she met the swimmer's eyes.

"You didn't even know we were alive," Emily continued.

"I know, I just well. I feel guilty, my mind is a confusing mess. I don't even really know what is real anymore. What A made me believe or what was just a hallucination." Spencer explained.

"So, ask us," Hanna requested, "Ask us what was real or not."

"Did I hurt you. In any way?" Spencer questioned avoiding eye contact as she did so.

"No," Aria immediately answered, "The last time we had heard from you was after I had tried to escape."

"What did you think had happened to me?" Spencer inquired.

There was a pause in the group before Emily answered, "You have to understand, after that we were not in a good place. There were a few theories but it was all speculation."

"What were they?" Spencer asked unsure if she wanted the answer.

"Well, we weren't sure if you had managed to escape, but after time went by and we hadn't been moved that seemed less and less likely. Then there was a chance A might have killed you…." There was a long pause, "but, we thought if that had happened A might have rubbed it in our faces, or not. Aria had been dealing with a lot at the time. Anything might have pushed her over the edge on her way back to semi recovery."

Spencer grew more curious about what had happened to the girls without her.

"And the last theory," Emily continued, "Was that you had joined the A team."

Spencer looked at the others shocked that they could have even suggested such a thing.

"It was just a theory," Hanna tried to defend the girl," It wouldn't have been the first time I would have happened. Even if it was last time you did it to try and protect us. Although even then we nearly got burnt alive in that building so…"

Spencer looked partly hurt but could understand where the girls were coming from, for them she had just disappeared from their lives with no explanation and no clues. At least for her, she had some faked closure.

The girls fished the starters as they continued to talk, catching the girl up about the secret cameras with the monitor now in the games room and what they had seen of the town in it and any other news.

The A team brought in the main meal, followed by dessert which was all eaten with nothing left behind. It was a rarity to have such a nice meal even if the reason they were celebrating was extremely morbid.

As the meal progressed the conversation hadn't become lighter and the girls were more enjoying themselves. Secretly A had been snapping photographs that would soon be framed and hung on the wall in the corridor adding to the morbid sense of celebration of enjoying an anniversary of their kidnapping.

"So, you decided on a baby name yet," Hanna asked looking down at Spencer's stomach.

"I don't even know if It's a girl or boy yet," Spencer replied, "but I have a few suggestions…."


	41. Chapter 41

It had been over a month since the girls had once again been reunited, they were still in a similar situation. Emily still spent all her time with her legs chained together, the hand chains had since been removed giving her more freedom but the chains that bound her legs together was the only way of A being able to control her since she had found a way to remove the collar.

Despite the begging, she had refused to share her secret with the other girls, a shock collar was still a better option then being unable to walk more than 10 cetremetres a step.

The girls were crowded round in the games room playing an intense game of cards, the winning of which would have been allowed to have a shower the following night. It was once of the ways that A made the girls play against each other. Sometimes when the stakes were high enough it worked other times it lead to them letting certain people win as they knew it was what some people needed.

"Guys," Spencer spoke out as the game hit its thirty-minute mark, "I think the baby is coming."

The other girls looked up in confusion.

"If this is just a way so that we allow you to win Spence," Hanna jokingly spoke out.

"No, I'm being serious here," Spencer retorted.

"I thought it was too early," Aria started to panic, "It shouldn't be coming yet!"

"Say that to the contractions," Spencer articulated, "Does anyone here know how to deliver a baby?"

The other girls looked at the pregnant girl in horror as all of them realised they didn't know how too.

"I gave you guys that book to read," Spencer shouted out in annoyance.

"We thought we had more time," Aria protested, "We should have had more time, it's too early."

"Ok, the contractions have just started," Spencer reassured, "We still have time."

"Ok. Ok," Aria decided, "Han you help Spence to medical, I'll get the book. It's in Spencer's room still I guess. And Em… just try and get to medical to help as quickly as you can."

Aria darted out of the room and towards Spencer's room.

"Just please don't let your water break on me please Spence," Hanna begged as she begun to lead the girl towards medical.

"I don't really have a choice Han," Spencer explained, "My body is just kind of going through the rhythm now," Spencer paused for a few moments before turning to her friend, "You didn't look at anything in the book did you. You have no idea what you are doing right?"

"That is correct," Hanna agreed, "in defence, none of us do. So, when do we actually need to start worrying."

"When the contractions are three minutes apart," Spencer explained.

"And how far apart are they now?"

"Not a clue, but it's still longer than that. It might be hard to tell when none of us have seen a clock in seven months,"

The two reached the medical room, the door was already open. As Hanna helped the other girl to the medical bed she started to voice her concerns, "What if something happens to the baby, like it's born without a head. What if it's twins."

"It's not twins," Spencer stated as she stared up at the ceiling.

"How do you know that, you haven't had an ultra-scan thingy,"

"A mother can just tell," Spencer replied, "There has only been one set of legs constantly kicking me."

"So, it's defiantly alive in there?" Hanna inquired.

"Han, can you please just stop trying to panic me, it's not like I'm exactly giving birth in the best environment is it," Spencer pleaded.

"At least it's a hospital room," Hanna tried to think of the good side of all of what was happening.

"it's a fake hospital room in our kidnapper's slash stalkers dollhouse," Spencer half screamed in frustration and pain.

"Good point," Hanna paused squeezing the girls hand.

"I've got the book," Aria announced as she entered the room quickly followed by Emily who was slowly dragging her feet, "Ok so how much of this do we really need to know."

"The birth and dealing with complications," Spencer replied before having to take a breather as another contraction came through, "Chapter five and nine."

"Have you read like all of this book Spence?" Hanna asked.

"Twice," Spencer quickly replied.

"Why do we need to know this stuff then. Can't you just walk us through it?" Hanna continued to question.

"I'm going to be completely exhausted and in a lot of pain, so no," Spencer explained.

"I'll check the cupboards for anything helpful," Aria decided," Em, take the book and start reading it out loud to us."

"Can you try and find something for the pain it's just going to get worse," Spencer begged as her water just broke.

"Ok crap, so it's definably happening then. Just try and relax," Aria agreed as she started to open all the cupboards.

Emily started to read the chapters out loud cringing as she got to some of the more disgusting details.

"We are going to have to do that?!" Hanna exclaimed as Emily reached the part about the baby being born.

"Seems like it," Aria agreed, "Spence it's alright we got you."

"Thanks," Spencer started to say before letting out a scream in pain, "Ok please, please, please tell me you got painkillers now."

"Sorry Spence," Aria started to apologise, "We got nothing."

"Oh please. Ok. Ok. A please, please. I'm begging you, Can I please, please, please have anything to help with the pain," Spencer begged as she stared at the camera blinking in the corner of the room.

Emily continued to read out the instructions with slightly more panic in her voice.

"The baby is coming," Spencer blurted out.

"What!" The three girls responded in unison.

"The baby is coming," Spencer screamed out, "Oh, just god."

As Spencer screamed out the door opened. A entered the room pushing in an incubator and different medical supplies. Hanna stepped back as she grabbed Spencer's hand, the pregnant girl squeezing is tightly in pain.

"Move out of the way," The commanding voice instructed. The figures face was covered completely but they were wearing medical clothing. It was unclear if they had any experience at all in the situation.

The girls did as they were told too scared of what the consequences would be if they disagreed, now wasn't the place to try and take A down when one of their own was in labour.

"Ok Spencer," The voice module in A's voice changed the sound so it no longer felt comforting like it was originally meant to, "It is a bit too late for an injection to help with the pain since it takes twenty minutes to work but this Entonox gas solution will help while the contractions are happing if you want it."

A lifted up the mouthpiece as Spencer snatched it from them breathing in the gas slowly.

"You should feel some relaxation in about twenty seconds," A continued. It was freaky how out of character their kidnapper was.

After a while in near complete silence with the only noise being Spencer's screams and the girl's occasional fearful encouragements the baby was brought into the world.

"Are they breathing, is my baby breathing," Spencer called out exhausted but wanting questions.

A stayed silent as they handle the new-born with care, quickly bringing them over to a set up table. As A continued to work two more figures entered the room, one was quickly ordered over to help with the care of the young baby while the other was ordered to make sure the girls stayed were they were.

"Spencer it's ok, it's going to be ok," Emily tried to tell her friend as she looked on with worry.

"Is the baby breathing?" Aria questioned to the figures.

"Quiet, stay quiet," one of the figures commanded, "They are not going to be able to save her if you don't stay quiet."

"Her…" Spencer breathed out, "it's a girl?"

Hanna stared over as the figures continued to work," Yeah, it's a girl. Spence you're a mother to a beautiful baby girl."

"What… what do they look like?" Spencer questioned as she slowly closed her eyes exhausted.

"Hey Spence, stay with us here," Aria shock the girl in order to keep her awake, "She underweight, but she looks strong she will pull through."

"She's breathing," The original figure called out, "help me get her into the incubator."

Spencer let out a sigh of relief, "Can, Can I hold her?"

"She was born to early, once we know she is stable then you can hold her hand while she stays in the incubator. It's her best chance." A explained with the monotone creepy tone.

"Her best chance?" Spencer got worried, "There's a chance she won't make it?"

"She was born to early, she is underweight. If she makes it through the night the chances are she will be fine, baring no complications." The main figure explained almost kneeling at her bedside, "Save your energy. You will need it."


	42. Chapter 42

"Oh, just look how cute she is," Hanna spoke adoring the small infant as she squeezed her finger.

"Since she survived a week with no problems it's looking positive," Spencer sighed as she looked over at her child lying in the incubator.

"She's a bit small isn't she," Aria pointed out, "It's not like you were starved like the rest of us."

"I don't think she would have survived if I was," Spencer replied, "Our situation is probably the reason she was born early, but it seems not too early. She'll catch up."

"Are you sure on the name?" Emily questioned, "Are you sure you really want to call her that?"

"Yeah, I do," Spencer confirmed, "She got eyes just like her, it's only appropriate. My little Mona."

"I mean, I kind of see Emily's point," Hanna joined, "You sure you want to name her in Mona's memory, like I know she would have loved to have a kid named after her but still it seems strange."

"I'm positive, I wouldn't have it any other way. I've thought about it for a long time, I mean I was alone for months," Spencer paused before continuing, "and I kind of must be honest with you guys now so like… you understand. When I was alone, for all that time… well in my mind I kind of started to hallucinate… A lot"

"Oh, you poor thing," Aria hugged her friend, "I had them for like a month, they aren't fun."

"And well," Spencer continued, "They person I kept seeing, that kept coming back it wasn't my parents, Mellissa or Toby, or even you guys. It was Mona."

"Well thanks, seems like we were loved," Hanna muttered under her breathe.

"Hey, I thought I had killed you guys ok," Spencer spoke in defence, "The hallucinations I had of you guys weren't exactly let's braid each other's hair type ones more like the haunting."

"Sorry," Hanna apologised, "Continue."

"It was always Mona coming back," Spencer continued, "She was just talking to me, saying how it wasn't my fault that I couldn't save her. I took me a while to believe here. Well… believe myself since like she was a hallucination. She would just say how it was brave how I tried to attack A that It wasn't my fault I was just too weak. Not having food or liquids for that long, it would have happened either way. She was just glad that I was safe."

Spencer paused, breathing is sharply as she tried to stop the flow of tears that was about to come, "I'm still going to keep my promise to her, I'm going to get out of here. I'm going to tell her mom how much she loved her as I promised. She may not have been able to get out of this hell alive but I'm going to make it out with my sweet little baby."

"Ok, I can see the reason why now," Hanna spoke out, "but like the hallucinations of us, where they just like," Hanna rose her arms as she half handed pretended to be a member of the undead, "Why did you kill us!"

"Hanna, really?" Aria gentle nudged the other girl," Me and Em are like on the brink of tears and you're wondering if you were a zombie in Spencer's hallucinations."

"Sorry, but like where we?" Hanna pressed on.

"No," Spencer laughed, "You were not. Pretty sure you would be less frightening as a zombie."

As Spencer finished her sentence little Mona started to let out a whimper before starting to cry.

"Right, Hanna swap places I think little Mona needs her mommy," Spencer commanded as she got up from where she was sitting on her bed."

"I didn't do anything I swear," Hanna protested as she moved away.

"You probably didn't, this might just be a bit too overwhelming for her or," Spencer paused. "She needs her diaper changed."

"And with that, I am definably moving," Hanna started to move away faster from the infant.

"You are going to have to deal with this sometime," Spencer tried to tell the disgusted girl, "You are her Auntie after all."

"Wait I am, sweet. Still, doesn't mean I am going to change her diaper. Baths, I may be inclined to help out with, but when It comes to poop. No thank you," Hanna decided.

"Right, help me out guys," Spencer commanded as she lifted the incubator top, "the stuff I need is in the cupboard."

None of the girls moved from their spots as they just looked on.

"Ok, Aria," Spencer sighed at her friend's lack of movement, "Can you please get the supply's."

"Why does it always have to be me?" Aria questioned as she lept of the bed onto the floor.

"because we are team Sparia," Spencer spoke," Also like Emily's legs are still like chained together and do you think Hanna is going to get any closer to me."

"ugh… fine," Aria moaned, "but you're not making me clear up. I've already had one baby in the household."

"Mike cannot count," Spencer spoke back as she was handed some wipes, "He is only two years younger than you. You seriously cannot tell me you were traumatised at that age."

"Well I am the only one with any experience of children anyway, being the oldest child and all," Aria professed.

"I suppose so," Emily joined in, "especially since your boyfriend also had a kid too. Well momentarily anyway."

"If we are counting that as experience then we are screwed," Spencer joked, "didn't that kid end up in the hospital when you were looking after them."

"Well, at least I didn't kidnap them," Aria teasingly snapped back.

"Malcolm and I had an amazing time at the puppet show," Spencer reminisced, "and if I remember correctly he didn't end up in hospital at the end of that trip."

"One day I'm just going to take Mona to the funfair and not tell you to show you how I felt," Aria retorted.

"I would love that," Spencer laughed, "The fresh air, the sky. We would be free."

"Would be nice wouldn't it," Emily spoke as she lay back on her back and looked up at the ceiling, "No chain, no collars, just sky. Have you thought about a nursery for mini Mona yet?"

"Thought, yes," Spencer replied, "If I would be allowed to paint my room so that the ceiling was blue and full of clouds and there were flowery fields across the walls would be a different story."

"You could always make a list and ask," Hanna suggested, "Wouldn't hurt."

"I might try that," Spencer agreed, "The flown in wallpaper from England does need a bit of a refurbishing."

"Might as well ask for some other stuff for mini Mona," Hanna continued, "Like small little toys, a few books as if she is anything like her mother or the woman she is named after she is going to become a genius."

"Yeah," Emily also inputted, "I mean like this might be a prison for us but she's just a baby, a few books and such might be nice."

"I'll get on that then," Spencer agreed, "As soon as I put this stinky diaper in the bin."

"Please return to your rooms," The speaker announced overhead.

"Well visiting times are over then," Spencer announced, "I'll see you guys tomorrow maybe?"

"Hopefully," Emily agreed as she got off the bed and started taking small steps out of the room.

The three girls left leaving Spencer alone in the medical room. Since Mona had been born Spencer hadn't left her side apart from when she had to go to the toilet but even then, she made sure one of the other girls were looking after her. She didn't want A to be able to put her child through hell like they could do to her.


	43. Chapter 43

"Hush little baby don't you cry, mama's going to sing you a lullaby," Spencer sang softly as she held her tiny baby's hand.

It was silent in the room but every now and again Spencer could hear the odd sounds of doors creaking and screams coming from the hallway. She didn't want to ask what was happening out there, all she wanted to make sure she stayed with little Mona away from any of the danger and far away from A's reach.

The bedside monitor that was attached up to the young child bleeped quietly at a strong rhythm indicating the child's health. Despite being born early Spencer was almost positive that her daughter would survive. If she managed to make it this far in the dollhouse she would make it to the end.

* * *

"Emily, Aria," Hanna called out into the darkness, "Can anyone hear me?"

Hanna shuddered as another creepy noise sounded through the speakers in the dollhouse, all the lights had been turned off and the girl was left stumbling around in the darkness hoping that she would bump into one of her friends.

She was half sure that she was in the games room at the moment, she could feel the shape of the chairs and table but then again it could also be in the party room.

Hanna froze as the sound of a cane tapping against the ground and following footsteps echoed from outside in the corridor.

"Was A just playing tricks on her or was there someone there?" She thought to herself terrified.

"Hanna?!" She heard a voice call out from a distance.

Stumbling over the items that were scattered on the floor of the room Hanna attempted to find the door frame and get closer to her friend.

"Emily?" She called out hoping for an immediate response.

"I'm in here?" Emily yelled.

"In where?" Hanna responded as loudly as she could.

"The kitchen…. I think," Emily answered back unsure of her answer.

"Wait, that's not helpful. Can you come to me?" Hanna moaned.

"Legs are still chained," Emily explained, her way of movement still very limited and slow.

"Ok… can you just keep shouting while I try and make my way over to you?" Hanna suggested.

Emily started to ramble on while directing Hanna to where she was camped out.

"So, why does none of the lights work? And why are there spooky noises?" Emily questioned once Hanna had entered the same room as she was in.

"New form of torture?" Hanna suggested as she shrugged in the darkness.

"Welcome my little dolls to the first ever haunted Halloween," The speaker announced.

"Oh great," Emily muttered under her breath, "This is going to be fun for us."

"It's time to really get this celebration started!" The voice continued, "Let's see how you like visiting the past and experiencing what you did to others."

"So, that's why it's pitch black," Emily realised, "because we didn't help Jenna and she ended up being blinded cause of Ali."

"Didn't we apologise for that?" Hanna questioned.

"Did we?" Emily asked, "Like you also did slap her in the restroom at school."

"I saved her from that burning building though, and like you saved her from drowning," Hanna pointed out, "So should we really still be getting punished for that."

"She still has to live in the dark, and those might not have happened if she could see,"

"She could have died if I didn't save her Em, I nearly died in that explosion. If the house blew up two seconds before I might not be here now,"

"Hanna I doubt arguing with A is going to make this night any easier," Emily paused as the sound of the door creaking open and footsteps filled the air, "Hello. Aria? Han, there's someone here with us."

A muffled scream came in the direction that Hanna once stood.

"Hanna!?" Emily shouted out but was returned with nothing but silence.

* * *

Hanna woke up, the last thing she remembered was screaming as a cloth covered her mouth and she blacked out. It was still pitch black in the room, raising her head of the table she was slumped over she immediately noticed the shackle that held her left hand to the table and reduced its movement to zero.

"Good morning Hefty Hanna," The speaker announced.

Hanna groaned, she thought the days of that nickname was far behind her.

"Today for you, we have a series of delectable for you to finish eating," The speaker continued, "Let's see what is first on the menu."

The door opened and the footsteps of one of the members of the A team entered. Hanna could hear a dish being put down in front of her then the feeling as a spoon was shoved into her hand.

The lights in the room flickered on as the figure left the room.

Hanna looked down in horror as the speaker continued announcing, "And the first dish is fresh garden worms."

"I am not eating this, I don't care how much you shock me I am not eating this," Hanna tried to protest as she squirmed in her seat watching the worms wriggle around in the bowl.

"Eat up or face the consequences," The monotone voice of the speaker warned.

"No," Hanna spoke out in defiance.

A screen flickered on in the corner of the room that Hanna hadn't noticed yet, intrigued she stared at the poor-quality image until she realised what she was looking at.

"No, please don't hurt her," Hanna pleased, "I'll do it. I'll do it."

Hanna shuddered as she lifted her spoon into the bowl and pulled it out with a worm attached.

"Just swallow," Hanna thought to herself as she kept looking back at the screen, "Wait, chew then swallow or it's going to be alive down there. Wait don't they stay alive even when you split them in two. I can't believe I'm doing this."

"You're not quick enough," The speaker announced in a menacing tone.

Hanna watched her terrified friend standing in a tanker half filled with water. Emily's feet were strapped down with chains and the water was slowly trickling in. Hanna watched in horror monetarily as Emily tried to tug at the chains at her meet hoping like Houdini she would be able to escape before the water reached above her head.

"Eat up or the water is just going to come in faster," The speaker warned as the trickle of water started to increase.

Hanna took in a deep breath then shovelled the first worm into her mouth, chewed and swallowed. As the first bite forced its way down her throat Hanna felt like she was going to throw up. She felt like constantly gagging but every time she looked up at the monitor to her friend that was now visibly shouting for help she knew that she would have to take the next mouthful.

The water was up to Emily's chin as she took the last mouthful of worms from the bowl.

"Let her out now you monster," Hanna screamed at the camera before covering her mouth as she felt the need to throw up all that she had just consumed.

"And onto dish two," The speaker announced as a figure walked in removed the empty bowl and replaced It with a new one," live maggots."

Hanna couldn't hold it in anymore and the contents of her stomach was thrown up across the table, some landing in the bowl while other lay in her lap.

"Better eat up," The speaker warned, "Time is running out."

Emily was distressed, she had tilted her head back hoping to keep her mouth above the water as long as possible. The water itself was freezing but hyperthermia didn't seem to be the pressing issue at hand.

Hanna shuddered as she lifted her spoon once again, she felt terrible, remains of the incident dribbled down her chin as she took the first bite. It tasted disgusting and Hanna was sure she was going to throw up again but what other choice did she have when her best friend was about to start drowning.

As Hanna had choked her way through half the bowl of squirming maggots when she looked at the monitor and saw Emily take her last breath before being completely submerged under the water.

"She's a swimmer," Hanna thought to herself, "She can hold her breathe for like three minutes or something. Common Hanna eat." "Tick Tock, Tick Tock," The speaker mocked, "Time is running out."

Hanna started to gulp down the maggots as quickly as she could, due to her previous vomiting the wriggling maggots had been mixed with stomach acid and the remains of the previously swallowed worms.

Hanna took the last gulp of the maggots, she had since stopped chewing and instead just tried to consume as much as she could in as little time as possible knowing full well they probably wouldn't stay down for long.

Slamming down her spoon on the table she lifted the bowl and faced it towards the camera.

"See! It's done, let her out." Hanna shouted out panicking. Time was nearly up for Emily and soon she would need to gasp out for air, "see," Hanna opened her mouth and showed the camera as well, "All gone, let her out."

The monitor went blank before the lights in the room turned to darkness.

"Let her out you monsters," Hanna screamed out before she felt the contents of her stomach once again coming up.

* * *

Aria lay on her bed, it was pitch black in her room. As she continued to lie there caught up in her thoughts she heard the door to her room opening.

"Hello?" Aria called out in the darkness, "Is anyone there?"

Aria could hear the footsteps coming closer and closer towards her, "Hello?"

The footsteps stopped right in front her bed where she had been lying, quickly rushed and placed her back against the wall behind her fists poised in front of her. She knew it was useless to try and defend herself with the collar on but if she was about to die she would at least go down fighting.

Shivering she felt a rough hand graze her face, it was skin. There were no gloves between them, for a change A wasn't completely covered up with their uniform but was covered up with the darkness.

"Please don't hurt me," Aria muffled out in amongst her fear.

The figure stopped before pulling Arias frozen body closer as their face drew near hers whispering quietly in her ear, in the voice modulators monotone voice, "I could never hurt you Aria."


	44. Chapter 44

The figure continued to stroke Aria's face as the tiny brunette stayed completely still in fear that they wouldn't keep up with their last statement.

Aria tried to look through the darkness to find a shadow or an outline or anything that could help her identify who was sitting in the room next to her. The rough hands that kept stroking her face felt familiar but at the same time completely Alien.

"What are you going to do with me," Aria spoke out quietly fearing a reply.

"Nothing," The monotone voice replied, "Would you like to leave this place?"

Aria nodded shyly before releasing that there was no way her kidnapper would be able to see it, "Yes… Yes, I would."

Aria couldn't lie, she knew it might not be the answer that the A team wanted. She knew they wanted her to be beaten down, to have given up, to stop trying to escape and just allow whatever was going to happen, happen.

Aria closed her eyes even in the darkness she wanted to brace herself for whatever was to come. The brunette gasped out as she felt a needle being jabbed into her arm, she could feel the fluid flow through her body as she felt everything become increasingly numb and every sense being turned off.

* * *

"I told you to get her out of there," An angry voice shot up, "She has no pulse."

"It's not my fault that the instructions were not clear," Another voice called back.

"You weren't meant to kill her!" A third voice joined in.

Two of the figures in the torturous room that Emily had been drowned in had pulled her unconscious body from the tank of overflowing water after the video that was being streamed to Hanna had cut out.

"Get me that damn defibrillator," The first voice called, "We have ten minutes till she is brain dead."

The second figure rushed out of the room and towards the medical room where Spencer and her baby were located.

Without thinking they rummaged through the cupboards until they found what they were looking for and left with the same hurry.

Spencer was left there shocked as she saw the figure barge in, it was strange how frantic they were. As they pulled out the defibrillator her heart sank.

"What happened?" Was all Spencer could think.

The figure quickly rushed to the side of the first figure who had started doing chest compressions to try and get Emily's heart to start up again.

"I am not having another one of my dolls die in this room, Mona may have just been practice but I need this one to stay alive," the third voice commanded in the panic.

"Ok, take over from me," The first figure commanded as they swapped places and started to prepare the defibrillator, after turning the machine on and waiting for it to charge they shouted out, "Ok hands up. One two three."

The electric voltage shot through Emily's body.

"Do we have a pulse?" The first figure asked.

"No," the second figure quickly responded.

"Okay, charging again. Three, two one," The first figure shouted.

Another charge of electricity was shot through Emily's unconscious body.

"Is there a pulse?!"

The second figure paused as they checked.

"Is there a pulse?" The first figure shouted out again.

"Yes. Yes. We got one," The second figure let out a sigh of relief as Emily's body started coming back to life.

Emily's whole body felt like it was burning as she felt her self-being brought back before coughing up the water that had entered unwantedly. All she could hear was muffled voices before her body brought her back into the darkness.

"Thank god," The third figure muttered under their breath, "Get her to medical, and where the hell is the other guy. This should have been all hands-on deck."

The first two figures loaded Emily onto a stretcher that had been kept in the room from when they had planned to take her back to her room after the stressful incident. Carefully the two lifted Emily up and carried her to the medical room. Spencer stood on the opposite end of the room in shock as she saw her friend being carried in desperately holding onto her life.

"I'll get her sorted you sort out her. Keep her out of the way," The first figure ordered directing the last comment at Spencer.

Spencer cowered as the figure got closer to her, she held her back against the incubator in order to try and protect her baby. Spencer winced as the masked figure grabbed her wrist roughly before proceeding to cuff it to a hook on the wall where she couldn't interfere.

"I told you all of this equipment was worth having," The first figure spoke, "She's having trouble breathing. I need you to prepare the ventilator."

"Has all the water been removed from her lungs?" The second figure questioned not really knowing what they were doing.

"She seemed to have coughed up most of it, but this isn't a hospital we can't do that much about that now," The first figure explained, as they saw all the ventilator equipment being brought towards them, "Here. Connect her up to the monitor, I want to be able to see her vitals."

The second figure did their job as the monitor was brought to life showing the girls now constant heartbeat.

"Oxygen levels are low," The second figure pointed out.

"Ok," The first figure spoke out as they had got the ventilator to start working, "Hold her town while I insert the tube. I don't want to make this harder if she wakes up."

The second figure did as they were told and soon Emily was able to breathe with the help of the machine.

"Oxygen levels are looking good," The first figure stated as they continued to monitor her progress through the monitor.

Spencer couldn't help but watch, one of her best friends had been at death's door right before her and she was unable to do anything about it. She kept switching her attention from Emily to Mona as she grasped onto the little infants' tiny hand.

"I'm going to stay with her, make sure she stays stable. I need you to get her," he commanded pointing at Spencer, "Out of here, I'll look after that stupid kid."

Spencer's eyes widened as she heard the conversation being spoken, she immediately went into protective parent mode at the thought of being abandoned from Mona. She couldn't let anything happen to her, she couldn't let the A team take her away especially since they had nearly just let Emily die.

"No, No. I'll be good, I'll stay still. I won't speak," Spencer begged to try to think up an advantage she could use.

The figure grew closer to her with a key in their hand ready to uncuff her from the wall, "Step away from the kid."

"No. Get away from her," Spencer shouted before she found herself falling to her knee's as a shooting pain shot through her neck from the collar leaving her defenceless. Spencer screamed out in pain as she found herself unable to do anything.

"Just sedate her," the first figure commanded, "It's not going to be easy dragging her away kicking and screaming."

The second figure pulled out a needle as Spencer continued to scream out in agonising pain.

"Just do it quickly," The first figure grew increasingly impatient, "I'm going to have to deal with the freaking crying baby now."

The second figure stabbed Spencer in the arm with the needle as the shock collar was turned off and Spencer found herself drifting off into a deep sleep.

"Get her to her room then wait an hour or so before you drag the blonde into the showers to get clean. Can't let her go back to her room before that unless you want the smell of sick suffocating you every time we have to go in there." The first figure commanded as the other figure uncuffed Spencer from the wall and began dragging her by her feet out the room, "And get Hanna some new clothes, Worm guts don't make great stains."


	45. Chapter 45

Aria woke up, she was sitting in some sort of chair hunched over a table but she still couldn’t see.

“Where am I?” She muttered to herself quietly. As she began to wake up more Aria could tell the darkness was no longer consuming her instead a darkened mask covered her eyes blocking any light from entering. The next thing she noticed was the collar that she had grown so used to having around her neck was no longer there.

Raising herself off the table she heard the sound of footsteps growing ever closer.

“Thank goodness you have woken up, I’ve been waiting to surprise you,” A monotone voice spoke out.

Aria shivered, she wasn’t alone. She listened carefully to what they were about the say next but what she heard through her off guard. Birds, she could hear birds and not ones that were being played out of a speaker. They seemed real.

A small breeze rushed past her body as Aria shivered, it wasn’t a sensation she had felt in over seven months since she had been forced into the dollhouse.

“Am I outside?” Aria questioned herself as she realised there was nothing holding her back apart from the mask and her kidnapper. The clothes that now clung to her skin felt different, she could tell they weren’t the same grubby ones that had been sitting on her skin for most of her stay. She felt almost clean but filthy as it meant since she hadn’t been the one to clean herself up that her torturer had.

“Do you want to know where you are?” The figure asked from seemingly behind her.

Aria nodded, as the rest of her stayed still.

“Let me show you,” The figure responded.

Aria could feel the mask being lifted off her face as burning light consumed her vision. The brunette blinked as everything came into focus. Aria gasped as she recognised the sight of the sun setting or rising it was yet to be clear across the field where she sat.

It was one of the most beautiful sights Aria had ever seen, it almost felt like she was dreaming. There was no chance that A had really taken her out to see it.

“I’m glad you woke up to see the sun setting,” the monotone voice spoke out from behind her causing Aria to sharply turn around.

The figure was completely dressed up in their black hooded uniform unlike when she had met them in her room. The mask gave an emotionless response that scared Aria more as she didn’t know what their motives were. They had told her that they could never hurt her, well that was if this still was the same person as before.

“What am I doing here?” Aria asked quietly.

“I told you, I could never hurt you,” the voice replied.

“Am I allowed to leave?” Aria questioned.

“No,” The monotone voice seemed harsher.

“What if I try and leave,” Aria inquired slightly filled with the hope being closer than ever to be free.

“You don’t want to,” The voice replied. The reply seemed to almost be a warning that if she tried she would never be able to escape, that even though it looked light she might be free she would still be brought back to the dollhouse.

“What am I doing here then?” Aria asked back confused.

“You said you would like to leave,” The voice responded, “I have a treat for you.”

Aria stayed silent as they continued to talk. The figure pulled out a basket from beneath the table, sitting down in the chair that was opposite where Aria was freely located they opened it up and pulled out a couple of plates, wine glasses, a bottle of champagne, and a selection of different plates of consumables that were still sealed up with Clingfilm.

“Could you care for a drink,” The voice asked almost sweetly.

Aria paused for a second, she couldn’t understand why they were being so nice to her. This was a person over a year had tortured her. Aria studied the bottle that the figure was holding carefully, the glasses were clean so she knew that as long as the figure started to drink so then she would be fine.

“Yes, please,” She replied hesitantly.

The figure carefully poured drinks for the both of them before handing one to Aria. Raising their drink, they started off a toast, “To the most beautiful girl in the world. Let this moment last forever.”

Holding the glass to their lips they tipped the glass back and swallowed some of the contents, “See, not poisonous.”

Aria cautiously still started to drink, the flavour was better than anything she had recently had. A smile beamed across her face unknowingly as she finished off her first sip.

“I’m glad you like it,” The figure spoke, “It’s from my own personal collection.”

“Who are you,” Aria asked as she stared towards them.

“Would you like some food,” The figure diverted the question.

“Sure,” Aria replied noticing the champagne bottle being moved to the middle of the table to make way for the plates of food.

Aria tucked into the different picnic foods that were laid out on the table from different types of sandwiches, shortbread, fruit salad and chocolate brownie.

“Are you enjoying yourself,” The monotone voice asked as Aria seemed to look past them into the distance of the trees.

“Yeah, it’s just so beautiful out here,” Aria sighed, I wish I could just stay out here forever.”

“Beautiful, just like you,” The figure replied.

“Like just look,” Aria pointed hoping the figure would turn around and look,” the squirrels rushing through the tree carrying nuts.

The figure looked around, Aria took her chance she grabbed the champagne bottle that was sitting in the middle of the table and with as much strength as she could gather walked the figure over the head.

The figure collapsed, Aria paused for a second scared they would immediately rise up and start hurting her. The figure didn’t move, Aria though fast she had to get out of there.

Running towards through the fields barefoot towards the trees she had never felt freer, she was going to escape to get out of there. There was nothing holding her back, no collar ready to shock her to the ground and no gun pointed at her head.

The ground started to become rough below her feet as she stumbled through the trees. With every shooting pain that suggested that she cut herself just made her run faster. She knew that the figure would only stay unconscious for a couple of minutes. That was unless she had killed them or given them serious brain injury.

It was surprising to her how little she cared if they were ok, it wasn’t like with Sharna where she had felt guilty for her family, all she felt was free.

 The trees started to clear before Aria saw a fence appearing in front of her.

“No,” She shouted determinable as she about to climb It. That was until she heard the buzzing coming from it, “Damn it, there must be a way out.”

Aria ran along where the fence ran hoping to find a hole or a tree branch that passed over the fence that she could climb onto, but there was nothing.

For a couple of minutes, she continued to run but it seemed unless she could hear the rustling and snapping of twigs getting closer and closer.

“I told you not to try and escape,” She could hear the figure yell, “I gave you a nice treat and this is how to repay me!”

Aria tried to stay still so she wouldn’t be able to be found but the figure continued to get closer.

“I know where you are,” The figure yelled, “You can’t hide.”

Aria didn’t move from where she had hidden away, she was too scared to even breathe.

“Come out and I’ll make this easier for you,” The figure continued to shout, as they grew closer and closer.

Aria closed her eyes she could feel her heart beating through her chest, her ears picked up the crunching of leaves as they grew nearer.

“Got you,” The figure stood in front of her as they grabbed onto Aria’s skinny arm and pulled her out of her hiding hole, “You have been a very bad girl, I can see why the others don’t like you.”

Aria started to yell out in hope that there might be anyone close by that would be able to save her, she knew it was a long shot but she didn’t want to go back down there, back into the dollhouse.

“No one can hear you scream,” The figure replied as they got out a needle from their pocket, “Now shut up before you give me a headache.”

Aria continued to scream as loudly as she could.

“Have it your way,” The figure grunted as they stabbed the needle into Aria’s skin as the brunette stopped screaming and blacked out.


	46. Chapter 46

Emily woke up, her whole body felt groggy and her throat burned from where the tube had been inserted to help her breathe. It was no longer there after being removed about twelve hours prior when Emily had shown signs that she was able to breathe on her own.

The lights felt like they were burning and the room felt too cold. Emily couldn't understand until it hit her, the panic, the screaming, the water rushing burning her throat as she suffocated under the water. It all flashed back so suddenly the fear attacking her mind once again.

Emily felt like she couldn't breathe, that she was still trapped under the water. Her feet locked against the ground as the water slowly trickled in until it competently submerged her. It felt like the adrenalin was rushing through her body as Emily's heart felt like it was going to burst.

"No," Emily thought to herself, as she tried to gasp out for breath, "The quicker my heart beats the more oxygen I need the quicker I die."

Emily grasped onto the edge of the bed from where she was still lying. She felt a hand grab onto hers in assurance as she looked towards their direction.

"You're lucky," the voice called out from the direction, "I managed to remove all the water that was in your lungs. You should be fine."

It was a voice of a stranger, the monotone voice with no expression. Emily shot her hand away as her eyes went into view and she saw the figure sitting in a chair next to her.

"I'm glad you woke up," The voice continued, the figure completely covered up showing no signs of who they really are, "but you need to calm down now."

Emily could barely hear the instructions over her beating heart that told her to flee. Her eyes grew wide as she saw a needle being pulled out which only suggested more danger.

"No, get away, don't go near me," Emily manage to shriek out between breaths.

"Calm down," The figure instructed again.

"Get away from me!" Emily continued to shriek.

The figure paused for a moment before leaning in and stabbing Emily with the needle quickly as she failed to defend herself in her panic.

"Shh," the figure spoke, "Go to sleep, relax. Everything will be alright in the morning."

Emily felt the world collapsing in on her as it all went pitch black.

Spencer continued to sob in her room, she hadn't been allowed to see her daughter in four days since the drowned swimmer had been brought into the medical room with constant supervision from their kidnappers so that she had a chance of living.

Spencer had partly figured out what had happened to her, she knew she had drowned. The wet hair and clothes had given it away and the fact that she had managed to drown suggested that she had no control over the situation. She knew that there was no way that Emily, a prized swimmer could manage to drown.

It was strange though for the whole of the time in the bunker Spencer had never seen anything large enough to drown a whole person in. A was obviously ramping up their game and it was becoming increasingly dangerous. Spencer feared for her baby's Mona safety. A had introduced a baby monitor that allowed Spencer to listen to the child's giggles and screams but she wasn't sure if what she was hearing anymore was real or just an echo designed to stop her from destroying everything to get to her child.

"Visiting hours will be open shortly," A voice boomed over the speakers.

Spencer sighed with relief, she couldn't bear to spend another second apart.

The door to her room opened as she stepped out she heard crying from one of the rooms across the hallway – Hanna.

"Han?" Spencer called out, "Is that you?"

"Yeah Spence," Hanna called back as she tried to stifle her sobs.

Spencer walked over to her door and peeked her head in, "Are you ok?"

"Emily," Hanna sobbed, "She's dead. She drowned."

"Oh, god Han," Spencer had a look of sadness on her face as she realised the other girl didn't know what had happened, "She's in medical. She's alive. I think she was when I was made to leave."

"Wait…" Hanna paused, "So she isn't dead. I wasn't the reason she died?"

"The speaker just said visiting hours will be open soon, so I think we might be able to see her," Spencer explained, "and I can get my baby back."

"Where's Mona?" Hanna's eyes widened.

"In the medical still, I haven't seen her since," Spencer replied, "They forced me out, I didn't want to go."

"But she is alright," Hanna questioned.

"They gave me a monitor so I think so," Spencer answered, "I could hear her."

"Could you hear Emily?"

"No," Spencer paused, "They had to insert a breathing tube when I was there. She wasn't able to breathe properly. Hanna, what happened?"

"A wanted to play with their dolls," Hanna started to say, "and I wasn't quick enough. It's my fault she's like that."

"What did A make you do?" Spencer asked bending down towards Hanna.

"I don't want to talk about it," Hanna quickly replied, "Can we just go see here now."

"Okay," Spencer agreed as the two girls headed towards the infirmary. On the way, they checked Aria's door realising it was locked they carried on down the corridor.

Once they reached the medical room they saw the door was already open, Hanna cautiously walked in first as she saw Emily still unconscious on the bed.

"Oh, my god, Em!" Hanna broke contact with Spencer and rushed to her bedside, "Please tell me she is okay."

"The heart rate looks good and she is breathing on her own," Spencer pointed out before she rushed over to Mona to check the state of her condition.

"Is Mona alright?" Hanna asked not taking her eyes of her friend.

"Yeah," Spencer reassured the anxious girl, "I need to hold her, she's strong enough now."

"Are you sure?" Hanna inquired.

"Yes, she needs her mother," Spencer started to open the incubator where her daughter had been held, "She had been having formula so she could gain weight but I just need to feed her myself. Hello Mona, do you want to see your mommy."

Spencer got the young infant out and started to cradle her, "You don't mind, do you?"

"Be my guest," Hanna replied quickly turning around and smiling at the sight of a mother with her baby daughter. It seemed to be the only ray of light in their otherwise miserable lives.

"Patient Fields woke up two hours ago, was administered a sedative and will wake up shortly, she was experiencing panic due to a traumatic experience," The speaker boomed out as Mona started crying.

"You don't like the big bad speaker do you now," Spencer cooed the infant as she tried to calm her down.

"This is all my fault," Hanna spoke out loud, "If I just listened, or if I just ate those stupid maggots just a little bit faster she wouldn't be here."

"It's not your fault," Spencer reassured the blonde as she shivered at the thought of what her friend was made to do," It's not your fault that A is playing these sick and twisted games."

"If this is how Emily ended up from Halloween then what happened to Aria?" Hanna questioned worriedly.

"Halloween?" Spencer spoke up," This was on Halloween."

"Yeah, the day after we last saw you," Hanna explained.

Spencer thought for a moment counting back the days, "So that means my little Mona was born on the twenty-third of October."

"And how did you figure that out?" Hanna questioned.

"The lights dim in here at night time," Spencer explained, "So it doesn't mess up Mona too much. A might be a sociopath stalking kidnapper but they haven't yet done anything that would put my angel's life in danger."

Emily started to Stir.

"Em, Emily, can you hear me?" Hanna half yelled as she tried to fully wake the swimmer up.

"Han," Emily mumbled, "Am I dead?"

Hanna laughed pitifully at the same words the swimmer had asked when they had first found themselves in that room, "I hope not, this is a pretty crappy afterlife."


	47. Chapter 47

Aria woke up, she felt completely disorientated as if the world was spinning underneath her feet but she wasn't moving with it.

"Spencer… Emily… Hanna," She mumbled still out of it.

Aria stopped as she felt a hand being placed against her face and a monotone voice ringing in her ear, "They're not here. It's just you and me."

Gaining a better understanding of her situation Aria tried to squirm away from the hand only to find that both her hands were chained to the side of the chair and her feet were swinging loosely unable to touch the ground.

"Don't try and move," The figure commanded. Aria stopped, the last time they had told her to not do something she had disobeyed and it had ended her in her current situation. The cornered girl tried to open her eyes only to be greeted by blurriness.

"I'm sorry," The figure continued, "You were in a lot of pain so I had to give you a combination of drugs to get it to stop. I told you not to run off. You're feet, I had to bandage them up myself – not a pretty sight. How did you manage to dig cuts into your soles that would leave scars? I hope you don't mind my poor excuse of stitching, you won't be able to walk for a while."

"Sor…Sorry," Aria mumbled under her breath as she tried to make out the figure in front of her.

"That's alright…" The figure continued to stroke the girls face, "All that is important is that you are safe."

Aria grunted quietly as they spoke, they seemed so carrying but at the same time, they were the person that was keeping her locked up.

"You know I love you," Aria shuddered as she heard the comment but the figure continued, "but the others won't be happy if they find out you tried to escape and didn't get punished especially if they find out that you attacked me."

"D… D… Don't let them find, find out then," Aria mumbled as she tried to stay continuous.

"You have no idea what I had to do to make sure that your punishment for trying to escape last time was mild," The figure raised their voice.

"Being locked in a box with a dead girl was mild?" Aria thought to herself.

"The others wanted to do so much worse to you," The figure continued, "That stupid swimmers attempt to escape just put her higher up on the hit list of who to target next. The others drowned her, I can't let that happen to you."

"Em… Emily," Aria mumbled as she tried to verbalise the thoughts that were going through her head, "Oh god, is Emily dead? Did they kill her? Did they drown her? Oh god, we are going to die down here!"

"She's fine," The figure reassured after seeing the panic forming in the brunette eyes, "Well fine as a person can be after they are comatose after being drowned and killed before being brought back to life. No brain damage they are hoping would remove some of the fun."

Aria tried to close her eye's and let her head drop to her chest.

"No. Don't go to sleep," The figure took their hand from the girl's face held it under her chin and lifted Aria's face up towards their own, "I still need to decide what to do with you. I can't just let you go back to the others, it's not like they are in a good state anyway. With the mother being away from her baby and the blonde thinking she killed her best friend. If only she just ate up quicker."

"Don't hurt them," Aria mumbled the voice felt like it was falling further and further away from her as they spoke but she could still feel their hand keeping her chin up.

"I think you need some alone time," The voice continued as it became more and more distorted to Aria's ears.

The figure removed their hand letting Aria's face drop, they grew close to Aria's ear before whispering, "I'll be back soon."

As the figure left the lights in the room snapped off engulfing Aria in the darkness, with all the drugs running through the small girl's system her brain quickly shut up and entered hibernation.

After a couple of hours, the figure returned bringing with them a trolley full of supplies. Aria shot up more quickly than before.

"Are your meds wearing off?" The figure asked to no reply, "Don't worry I'll soon sort that out."

Reaching into the trolly the figure pulled out an IV kit, "I've been told this will send you on a nice little trip."

Aria tried to move away but was restricted by the restraints, it was also not helped by the lack of energy that she seemed to have. It was like her whole body had been drained.

Aria felt the prick of the needle as she felt the IV being inserted into her arm.

"Well that was easy wasn't it," the figure commented, "First time as well, I'm getting good at this."

Aria tried to look up at the figure but her sense of perspective seemed to change as she did so, whatever was in the drugs hooked up to her seemed to be kicking in.

"It's alright it's alright," She heard the voice say. It seemed harsh but quiet like it was floating away.

The figure next pulled out some headphones and placed them over Aria's ears, Aria immediately reacted shaking her head so they fell to the floor.

"Common Aria," The figure complained, "I didn't want to do this."

Aria felt her head jerk back and hit the chair that was situated behind it with a thud, her captured hand forcing her to stay back. Next, she felt a rough cloth replacing where the hand used to be still holding her back in place stopping her movement.

Aria tried to raise her shoulders but soon they were blocked when the area with her elbow was strapped down on the chair making her feel completely helpful.

"There we are," The figure spoke out," Be a good girl and stop resisting."

Aria had no choice but to give up, there was nothing left she could do. She felt the headphones once again being placed on her head before loud continuous music blasted through them, it seemed like multiple rock type songs were being played at the same time.

Aria opened her eyes just in time to see the figure leave the room leaving the room in pitch darkness again.

The drugs seemed to be affecting Aria more than she would have hoped, the world seemed to be collapsing around her. Her skin felt hot and flushed but at the same time extremely itchy. Her brain seemed to be too awake and didn't allow her to just shut off and sleep anymore.

Hours seemed to drone by the music steadily dimming in volume until it became non-existent. Aria was left in the darkness until still unable to close her eyes and sleep she saw the door open in a rushed manner.

Aria eyes widened as she saw the figure that was emerged in light standing at the doorway – Ezra.

The determined man ran towards her as he collapsed to his knees in front of her and started to rip off the restraints that held her down. Looking at her with fear but at the same time relief, constantly talking reassurance that it was over. He started off taking off the headphones, then the IV, then the head retains before starting to work on the restraints that held down Aria's arms.

Aria looked towards the door, as she saw her worst nightmare returning gun in hand.

"Ezra," Aria screamed, but she heard no sound leave her lips, everything seemed to be moving so fast.

Ezra turned around, panic in his eyes as he tried to back away towards a wall in full view of Aria. The young girl could feel her heart beating in her chest like it was about to explode.

The girl's eyes grew panic and wider as she watched the scene play out in front of her, the mouth of her loved one moving but her unable to hear what was coming out of it.

"Please, Please, Please," Aria continued to beg loudly although unable to hear herself speak.

Aria's heart stopped as she saw blood, Ezra continued to stand for a couple of seconds before his body slumped to the floor unresponsive.

"No!" Aria screamed out, although in her head was silence.

The figure looked at her before coming over, gun still in hand. Tears had started forming in the corners of the girl's eyes but she was still in shock over what had just happened.

The figure laid the gun on the floor before removing a needle from their pocket and making the world full of darkness once again for the brunette.


	48. Chapter 48

"Are you feeling alright?" Spencer asked quietly to the recently drowned swimmer, "You weren't looking so great last time I saw you."

"Not really," Emily replied as she smiled slightly at the sight of Spencer holding Mona, "The last time I saw you were before this happened. When did you see me?"

Spencer paused for a moment as she examined the words she should use, "You died."

"What!" Emily exclaimed not letting Spencer finish the sentence, "What do you mean I died?"

"You died, A was panicking. Your heart stopped Em," Spencer continued before being blocked off once again but this time by Hanna bursting into tears.

"It's all my fault," Hanna sobbed, "It's all my fault you died."

Emily looked more confused than ever, "How am I here then, If I died?"

"A managed to get your heart beating again with a defibrillator," Spencer continued, "And apparently, you had coughed up most of the water, but when you got taken in here they hooked you up to a ventilator as you were having trouble breathing."

The room fell quiet for a moment as Emily was left to process, the only sound was the quiet sobs of Hanna and occasional noises from the baby.

"Where's Aria?" Emily questioned looking around.

"We don't know," Spencer spoke trying not to make the vulnerable girl state any worse, "We haven't seen her since Halloween."

The room fell silent again as the girls couldn't think of anything positive to discuss with each other.

"Han," Emily turned her attention to the girl, "What did you mean it was your fault?"

Hanna looked the girl in the eye, it made her feel like crying all over again, "I. I wasn't quick enough to save you."

Emily looked more confused, "What do you mean?"

"A made me eat stuff, once I finished the water would be shut off," Hanna half explained her side of the story.

"What kind of stuff?" Emily inquired curiously.

"Worms… Maggots…" Hanna replied feeling sick that she was even talking about it all again.

"Visiting time is over," the voice boomed, "Please return to your room."

"I'm not leaving without Mona," Spencer stood tall holding the girl protectively against her chest.

"The young infant is stable enough to be moved outside of medical," The voice responded causing Spencer to sigh with relief, she didn't think she would be able to take it if they took her away from her baby again like last time.

"Emily, are you sure you are going to be ok without us?" Hanna asked squeezing the girls hand.

"I should be, you guys should go," Emily reassured the girl, "I'm alive now so let's just hope it stays that way."

Spencer and Hanna started to leave the room saying their last goodbyes as they turned left into the corridor to go back to their rooms they saw a wheelchair with a small brunette sitting it in rolling away from them.

"Aria!" Hanna shouted out, only to receive no reply, "Aria. What the hell happened to you."

The two girls just stood there was they watched their friend continue to wheel away from them.

"Hanna run up and stop her," Spencer requested.

"Why can't you?" Hanna asked back.

"Baby," Spencer pointed out

"Fine," Hanna moaned as she broke out into a sprint stopping just before the wheelchair. Reaching out to grab the handles to stop it moving the small girl inhabiting it jerked in fear then stayed completely still.

"Aria?"

Hanna moved around to face the girl only to see the tearful surprised nature.

"Is she ok Han?" Spencer called from across the hallway as she was gradually catching up.

"Aria? Are you ok?" Hanna asked concerned.

Aria just looked into the blonde's eyes as she raised her hand to her mouth and started crying again. As Spencer moved around so that she was now in the girl's vision she looked even more surprised.

The surprised girl watched her friends try to speak to her but she couldn't hear anything other than the defining silence.

"Aria are you ok?"

"What happened?"

"Please, please just speak to us."

"What happened to your feet?"

"Why won't you respond?"

Aria looked back and thought into her friend's eyes before opening her mouth to speak.

"I can't hear anything," The girl half shouted as she saw the worried expressions grow even more concerned.

"She can't hear us?" Hanna spoke concerned, "What did A do to her?"

"Here take Mona," Spencer commanded as she gently handed her baby over and bent down in front of the wheelchair so she was face to face with the deaf girl.

"What happened?" She spoke slowly making sure the movement of her mouth was clear.

Aria studded Spencer lips only catching only the last word, but still realising what the girl was trying to say she spoke out her answer.

"A was in my room," She saw her friends wince as how loud she was apparently talking so tried to reduce her volume a bit, "He said if I wanted to get out. I did. The next thing I knew I was in a meadow surrounded by forest. A had prepared a picnic, I managed to distract them and hit them over the head with a bottle. I ran. There was no way out, he found me."

Aria took a deep breath as she looked at her friend's faces urging her to continue.

"My feet, I hurt them running through the woods but my ears…" Aria paused as she tried to explain in her head what happened before she could tell the others, "I was back inside, tied up. A drugged me, I don't know what with. They made me listen to overpowering rock type music but it all went quiet… Then the door opened, there was Ezra."

The others looked at each other confused, there was no way that Ezra could have really been there especially since they were all still locked up. Ezra showing up would have been the start of their rescue.

"He tried to save me, but A came in. There was blood, so much blood. The killed him. Then A knocked me out again," Aria couldn't help herself but start blaring out in tears, she could tell the others were trying their hardest to understand between the sobs but It didn't help that she couldn't even hear her own voice, "I went to the games room, to try and see him on the monitor so I could know if I was real, but the monitor is gone. I don't know if he is dead."

Spencer tried to comfort the girl, avoiding her feet and hugging her gentle being pulling away so she could see her face.

"If Ezra was here then we would be free now," Spencer tried to slowly explain, having to repeat it multiple times before the girl caught onto enough of the words.

"Maybe you're right," Aria responded, "Or maybe he is dead."

"Please return to your rooms," The speaker overhead announced.

"Hanna, Can I have Mona please," The mother requested as she took her first child.

"Aria we have to go," Hanna slowly told the girl.

"No," Aria shot out as she grabbed on Hanna's arm.

"Please return to your room," The speaker spoke out again.

"We have to go," Hanna repeated.

"Don't leave me," Aria begged, "It's so lonely in the silence."

Spencer looked worried as she gradually backed towards her room clutching Mona.

The sirens started to wail off as Spencer rushed back to her room clutching the now screaming Mona and Hanna clutched her ears as the brunet still held onto her unfazed by the sound.

As Hanna showed signs of distress Aria let go immediately, she didn't understand what was happening.

Hanna rushed back to her room as quickly as she could to shut off the wails leaving Aria confused sitting in the corridor.


	49. Chapter 49

It had been about two weeks since the girls had seen each other after Emily had woken up from her coma. The dollhouse was ablaze with the sound of happy birthday being played through the speakers. Emily, Hanna and Spencer knew it could only mean one thing – it was the 19th November, Emily's birthday.

Since waking up from her coma Emily had spent a week in the medical room hooked up to an IV machine being regularly checked on by A. Despite not having any restraints the brunette never tried to struggle or escape as she knew as much as she wanted it trying to escape would just lead to more punishment.

The doors clicked open and one by one the girls found themselves in the corridor, Hanna having to wake Aria up since she hadn't been awoken with the song radiating through the dollhouse. Aria was no longer in a wheelchair but due to particularly deep cut on one of her feet, she still had to use crutches to get around.

"Happy Birthday Em," Hanna spoke to her friend who had started to tear up.

"What's wrong?" Spencer asked the girl as she embraces her in a one armed sideways hug, while Mona lay snuggled up resting held close to Spencer's chest with the other.

"It's… It's just been so long," Emily sobbed, "Not seeing my mum for all this time, I just miss her. I just want her to hold me in her arms and tell me it's all going to be ok."

"Emily," Spencer spoke out holding onto the swimmer even tighter, "It's going to be ok. We are going to make it through this. You will get to see your mum again.

Emily looked over at the girls and noticing the crutches asked Aria, "What happened to your feet?"

Aria looked at Emily confused at what was happening.

"Aria?" Emily asked again confused at why the girl was acting as she was.

"Hey Em, she is kind of deaf," Hanna butted in to end the confusion.

"What?!" Emily blurted out," How? What the hell happened?"

After a brief explanation of had happened to the petite girl, the group decided to explore the different rooms of the dollhouse to see. Once inside the kitchen area, the door slammed shut behind them causing the girls to jump.

"So, we're stuck in here then," Hanna moaned, "Well at least there is cake."

The girls stood around the cake as Emily made a wish as she cut into the first slice. The conversation was slow as the girls all ate their pieces, with nothing of interest happening since the monitoring station of Rosewood had been removed and every word had to be spoken slowly and precisely so Aria could try and understand what was being said.

After about 20 minutes the door buzzed open and the overhead speaker boomed out, "Please exit your room and follow the lighted pathway."

The three girls stood up as Aria quickly followed as she realised that others were starting to leave, cautiously she walked behind than not knowing where they had been told to go.

The lights led them to Spencer's room. Hanna cautiously opened the door as Spencer was still holding onto her daughter and let out an excited gasp before rushing in.

"Look at this," Hanna beamed excitedly, "All this paint. Oh, and look at this crib and this teddy. It's all so cute!"

Spencer and the other girls walked into the room stepping over the tarp that covered to the floor.

"Wait, So A is really allowing this," Emily spoke out, "Mona's nursery."

"Well it is how you make a prison a home," Spencer replied, "Allow them to paint the sky."

"So, you sure you want to paint the ceiling blue with clouds, and the flowery fields," Hanna asked, "because I'm sure I can put together which colours of flowers would be a perfect match."

"Thanks, Han," Spencer laughed, "Can you get Aria to help you since she is the artistic one, plus she kind of needs this." Spencer made sure she wasn't facing in the direction of Aria as she spoke, it was easier if the newly deafened girl wasn't made to feel even more left out.

"So where do you want to start Spence?" Emily asked.

"It's your birthday why don't you choose," Spencer suggested.

"It's your room," Emily retorted, "I don't want to mess it up."

"It's my cell," Spencer corrected, "Well as long as the crib is by the window I think it will be fine."

"Won't it block the door," Emily questioned confused with the bright girl's logic.

"It's not like I have anything in the cupboard," Spencer laughed, it's not really needed."

"Isn't your restroom through there," Emily asked confused, "I have to go through my cupboard to get to mine."

"You seem to forget birthday girl, I already had an on suite so why build it through a cupboard," Spencer pointed out.

"Yeah," Emily realised, "That would make more sense."

"Let me just put down Mona in the crib before we start planning this all out. I think me and you will be on ceiling duty since Aria can't stand up in that foot and this is Hanna we are talking about," Spencer joked.

"Hey, I heard that," Hanna answered in annoyance, Aria might not be able to hear but I can. Although yeah, you're on ceiling duty. Give it a blue base coat and then we can do clouds after."

"Wouldn't it make more sense to paint around the clouds?" Emily questioned, "Since the ceiling is already white."

"Fine, do we have anything to mark out the patterns?"

"I have a pen," Spencer replied, "but like don't use all the ink, please. I and Em can paint the outline of the clouds before we paint around it."

The group of friends started to work on their designs, by the end of the day the ceiling had been finished being painted but the walls were only starting to be coloured in on the designs.

"Please return to your rooms," The voice commanded, "Progress will continue tomorrow."

"So no sleep over tonight then," Hanna commented.

"Wait, you guys had a sleepover without me?" Spencer questioned as she picked up Mona who had started crying.

"We thought you were dead, or A," Hanna defended before she turned to tap Aria on the shoulder who was still painting away.

Aria turned her head to look at Hanna as she saw the blonde sign to leave the room, Aria presumed it was the time that they all had to go back, "When will I see you guys next?"

"Tomorrow," Hanna responded, "To…mar…row."

Aria nodded indicating she figured out what Hanna had said before going around to each person and giving them a hug, "I'll suppose I'll see you then, not that I'll ever hear you…"

Aria left heading back to her room.

"Do you think she will ever get used to being like… deaf?" Hanna asked with a sad expression on her face.

"I think we might need to learn sign language," Spencer suggested, "To make it easier for her, I wonder if it would be possible to get a book of it or we might just have to make up our own."

"Well would give us something to do," Emily commented, "Anyway, thanks guys for making this day a bit better. I love you guys, I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you later too," Hanna expressed as she left the room after Emily.

"Right Mona," Spencer spoke as the door slammed shut," Let's get you to stop crying shall we."


	50. Chapter 50

Spencer woke up again in the night to the sound of her crying child. Mona seemed to be having a hard time staying in the new crib that had been supplied for her since Emily's birthday the day before.

"Hush little baby don't say a word, mamma going buy you a Mockingbird," Spencer sang sweetly as she tried to calm the infant down, "See Mommy's here and I'm not going anywhere."

Spencer paused as she scanned her room examining the half-painted nursery, "So how much sleep did you let mommy get last night. I am still tired so that could either mean nothing to 24 hours. I wonder how long until the others get up."

Mona looked up at her mother with her big brown eyes as a little smile crept across her face.

"So, you like that then, not letting your mommy have enough sleep. How about I tell you about the outside," Spencer cooed, "I bet you would like to hear more about Rosewood."

"We are never going to find them," Toby collapsed on his desk his face pressed up against it, "We haven't received anything from A since May, it's been 6 months and there have been no new leads. They're dead aren't they."

"Hey Toby, stop," Caleb stopped the officer from his mopping, "We don't know that."

"You saw the letter yourself, A was going to kill them," Toby stated.

"All that Spencer wrote was that she would be the only one left," Caleb declared.

"Yeah because A killed them, then Spencer probably hasn't been let alive for the 6 months since then," Toby assumed.

"Spencer also wrote that she killed Mona," Caleb pointed out," And do you believe that she could have done that."

"No," Toby replied bluntly, "Well maybe."

"Maybe?" Caleb exclaimed.

"It wouldn't be the first time that one of the girls accidentally killed someone!" Toby uttered.

"She said she made the right decision, I don't think that's accidentally killing someone. I think that's flat-out murder," Caleb argued, "You seriously think you she flat out murdered Mona."

"No," Toby winced, "But I'm not hopeful she is alive anyway still. Caleb, she wrote to go live my life and forgot about her. I think she knew what was coming, I don't think she has survived wherever she is."

"Maybe you're right. Maybe you're wrong, but I must stay hopeful. The chance that Hanna is out there somewhere and that she will need me whenever she managed to get back home is the only thing that is keeping me going." Caleb explained, "She is going to come back. I know she will."

"So how is Ezra doing with all of this. I haven't spoken to him for a while," Toby asked.

"Same old, locking himself away from the world either in his cabin or going up to see family. He's lost hope," Caleb explained, "I haven't seen him for a few weeks myself, last time I spoke to him he said he was going to go camping or something in the wild where they are basically nothing. If only we got some clarification on what happened. When was the last time Alison called for an update?"

"Yesterday," Toby replied, "She was crying. It was Emily's birthday. Mrs Fields apparently is not having such a good time with this all that the moment. From what Ali told me she went out and got Emily a birthday present, wrapped it and just left it out in the garden overnight."

"What did she think was going to happen," Caleb questioned.

"I'm not sure, maybe she thought that somehow it would get to her. Family can do weird things when one of their own goes missing." Toby

"So, when is Mr Fields shipping off," Caleb asked.

"He's not. He's moving back to Rosewood full time," Toby

"Really?" Caleb questioned.

"Yeah, with everything that happens the long-distance situation just isn't working," Toby continued, "He actually applied to a position at the station. He's qualified enough so I think he will probably get the job."

The two men's conversation got cut off as Toby's office phone rang.

"One sec," He spoke to Caleb before answering," Toby Cavanaugh speaking…. Oh, hi, Alison… Wait for what. What do you mean the present just went missing? Who's going to go take it? Oh. Oh crap, yeah, I'll get some people on it right away thanks for calling."

"What happened?" Caleb questioned.

"Mrs Field birthday present to Emily that she left in her back garden it's gone, I think we got another lead."

"Morning Em," Spencer spoke out as the swimmer slowly dragged herself out of her bedroom, "Good sleep?"

"It was terrible," Emily complained, "but anyway, how long have you been up for?"

"Too long, but while I was awake thank to this little munchkin I came into my room,"

"Are you ok? Did they do anything to you? To Mona?"

"No, we are both fine. They actually left something for you. Looks like a very nicely wrapped present," Spencer smiled, "Bows and everything."

"Really?" Emily beamed with excitement.

"Yep, Get the others ready and come meet me in my room."

Once Emily had managed to drag both Hanna and Aria out of bed they all made their way to Spencer room. Spencer was sitting on the bed feeding Mona.

"You don't mind, do you?" The brunette asked quickly with slight panic in her voice.

"No, at least Mona is getting a good meal unlike the rest of us. All I ate yesterday was that cake, Hanna complained.

"What's in the box?" Aria asked as she sat herself on the floor facing the others.

Emily shrugged, "I haven't opened it yet."

Emily picked up the parcel as she gasped as she saw what it said, "To my dearest Emily, with love your mother."

"Mom," Emily started to cry, "You really think it's from her."

"Only one way to find out," Spencer spoke, "Open it."

Emily opened the parcel to reveal its contents. Inside was a selection of different items from a photo album full of a selection of family photos, a couple of different books and a soft slightly worn stuffed turtle teddy plush.

Starting to wipe away the tears that were finding its way down her face Emily took a stifled breath, "It's from her. It's definably from her."

"Wait for Em," Hanna paused," Isn't that the plushy you already own."

"Yeah, maybe she suspected. Maybe she knew that somehow the gift would make its way to me and she knew I would need to comfort,"

"Can I?" Aria asked as she pointed to the books.

Emily quickly scanned the pile before handing them over to Aria to examine.

"Could I borrow one of these, you know once you have finished with it?" Aria asked.

"Sure," Emily nodded," How about we carry on with this painting first. If we take any longer than today I don't think A will let us continue,"

Emily quickly put her newfound objects back in her room before setting down back with the others to continue painting. After a couple of hours, the group was nearly done with their work before they were interrupted by an uninvited figure carrying two trays full of food.

All the girls stayed still as the figure moved between them and left the contents on the side of the room before swiftly leaving.

"Thank god," Hanna praised the entrance, "I was starting to get really hungry."

"Really Hanna?" Spencer laughed as she looked over longingly at the food.

"It's been over 24 hours since I last ate and even with the diet that A seems to be putting me on I still do get hungry you know. My stomach may be the size of a golf ball but I do need to eat," Hanna exaggerated.

"20-minute food break then carrying on painting," Emily suggested as the other immediately agreed and crowded around the feast that had been brought to them.


	51. Chapter 51

In the outside world operations had been in full swing. Forensics had swept the scene of the Field's back garden multiple times revealing small traces of evidence.

"It's a size 10 shoes print that we found Mrs Field," Toby spoke to the woman, "It's my understanding that there's a chance it could be your print?"

"Yeah that's correct," Mrs Fields confirmed to the young officer, "I'm the only one that's been in that garden apart from Wayne, but he's a larger size. And well… doesn't wear women's shoes."

"Would it be possible to take in all your shoes for testing?" Toby asked.

"Of course, of course. You know I'll do anything to get my Emmy back," Pam allowed, "Do you need all of them or just the ones that have been worn recently?"

"All the ones worn in the past 3 months should be enough. Any prints made before that should be long gone," Toby established.

"They need to be bagged up, don't they?" Pam sighed.

"Afraid so," Toby believed.

"How many of those evidence bags you got with you?" Pam questioned thinking about how many shoes she had worn recently.

"About 10, for that size anyway," Toby replied.

"Ok you might need to get some more, I've been stress buying and there definably has been more than 10 pairs brought I'm afraid to say,"

"Understood," Toby simply nodded, "I'll quickly pop back to the station to get some more, how much more would you suggest?"

"If it's just the pairs worn in the past couple of months I would say another 10 bags should do it," Pam calculated.

Toby turned to leave before being caught unguard by the voice continuing behind him.

"Toby, would you maybe like to stay and have a cuppa afterwards. Wayne's out of the house and I don't really want to be alone right now," Pam asked with slight worry in her eyes. It was clear that she didn't feel safe in her own home alone currently with the fact that her child kidnapper presumed to have visited her premises the night before.

The young man paused for a moment trying to think of an excuse to give his commanding officer, "Let me get these bags then we can spend an extra long time sorting out the shoes."

"Thanks, Toby," Pam set out a sigh of relief.

With that, the officer headed back to his car and to the station before returning to the fields address.

A week passed and the police were no closer to finding out who the footprints belonged to, All of Mrs Fields shoes had been eliminated so they knew for certain that it had to be an uninvited visitor but with no other evidence coming to the surface they police couldn't narrow it down from the long list of women of Rosewood that had a size 10 shoe.

The entire town camera's had been checked and no figure in a black hoodie had been revealed, with the time period that the package went missing no one had a solid alibi. It didn't help that there weren't any top suspects for the case, let alone any suspects that had any solid evidence against them.

The new evidence was coming up as helpful as all the evidence before it. Something new to sift through but connecting the dots to all of the available evidence just added more confusion. Nothing seemed to make sense. The police force knew it couldn't have been just one person after both Hanna and Emily had gone missing at the same time and the car crash couldn't have been carried out with just one person.

Back at the station, Toby was showing Mr Fields around the station.

"And this will be where you will be sitting," Toby said pointing to the empty desk that had just been used for to stack unfiled paperwork on, "Yeah, I'll help you clear that up before you get started, and through those doors I'm sure you know is the case for the girls. You understand Chief isn't letting you work on that case right? With you being so close to it, since your Em's dad, they think that your judgment might be a bit clouded."

"Understood," Wayne responded, "So why are you and Caleb allowed to work on the case then?"

"I'm not the commanding officer on it but since Caleb and I had all the knowledge and experience with A, and Caleb is especially good with the all the computer hacking and software. This is all perfectly legal now, by the way. The chief thought it would be in their best interest to have someone with as much experience with the case as possible working on it."

"And you're not considered too close to the case?" Wayne asked.

"The benefits outweigh the risks," Toby explained, "plus, they couldn't have stopped me from working the case in my spare time so it was easier just to assign it to me."

Toby stopped as he saw his friend come closer.

"Hey Mr Fields, Toby," Caleb greeted the group, "First day Mr Fields?"

"Please, call me Wayne and yes the first day. Just getting my mind around where everything is in the office," Wayne responded pulling out his hand from his pocket to shake the hacker.

"Well good to have you on the team," Caleb smiled back, "Technically I am not part of the force. I don't get a badge and a gun but I do get part-time pay so that's something at least."

"You're working on my daughter's case so of course, you are part of the team," Wayne responded, "Thank you for all your hard work."

"We will find them," Caleb spoke reassuring.

"I hope so," Wayne responded almost weary in his speech as if he had lost some hope.

The next month past quickly inside the dollhouse, the girls did as they were told. They were let out relatively often to see each other and the new food rations had been enough to live on.

Aria had got back to walking around normally although she jumped whenever she saw something moves; not being able to hear was annoying her. Every time she was left alone she felt like someone was with her, watching her but just out of her vision. The A team didn't have to be cautious around her anymore once she slept, they could walk in and out of her room and destroy the whole room if they wanted without her waking up.

Emily had been extremely cautious, even pouring herself a drink made her feel sick. Every time she saw the water flowing it caused her whole body to shiver, the thought of the water slowly rising getting closer and closer to her face until she felt like she could no longer breathe and she was completely submerged.

Emily while also being frightened during the day often woke up in cold sweats as she dreamt of the incidence over and over again. Each time waking up as she felt the water fill up her lungs as she screamed out for help while figures surrounded her laughing.

Hanna had been mainly left alone, although she still experiences the constant guilt of feeling like it was her fault that her friend had developed such a fear of water after momentarily dying than being comatose for a few days. She knew she didn't feel that way, just like how it wasn't Spencer's fault that Mona had died it wasn't her fault that Emily nearly wasn't with them too. At the end of the day she needed to remember whose fault it was – The A team, and once she got out of the hellhole she was in she was going to make them pay.

Spencer had grown closer to her baby; she never let her out of her sight apart from when she slept. The quiet noises that mini Mona made during the night reassured Spencer at the end that everything was going to be alright.

Spencer woke up to the sound of Mona crying, the young infant had grown hungry during the night and needed to be fed.

"Hello my darling," Spencer cooed as she picked up the child, "Mommy's got you."

Spencer started to feed Mona as she noticed a tray of food on her desk. Alongside a bowl of lumpy porridge a flask had been added to the collection.

Once Mona had finished with her feed Spencer put her back down in her cot and walked over to the desk expecting the flask. It was still warm. Spencer opened the lid as the smell of freshly brewed coffee filled her nostrils.

A smile spread across Spencer's face, this had been the first time she had been given coffee since she had been kidnapped from her bedroom all those months ago. At this point, Spencer didn't care if it was the worst coffee in the world or if it tasted like toilet water had been used instead of regular water. She knew she shouldn't be drinking coffee since she was still breastfeeding Mona but who knew when this opportunity was going to come up again.

Spencer held the warm flask in her hands as she sat down in her desk chair, breathing in the sweet smell before she took a large gulp.

"Oh god that's refreshing," Spencer spoke out loud to herself.

Taking another sip she put the flask down and starting eating the porridge, it tasted like it did every day, not enough milk which left it dry.

Taking another mouthful Spencer started to feel queasy, maybe it was just from not having coffee for so long that her system had started to dislike its contents. Spencer stood up; maybe if she just lied down for a minute on her bed she would start feeling better.

As she did so Spencer felt like the world was spinning around her. Her hands and feet felt like they were miles away from her body as she tried to clasp to the chair for support.

"What's happening," Spencer thought in shock, as she tried to look over at her giggling baby lying in her crib, "Mona."

Spencer collapsed on the floor as the world around her went black when she woke up she realised for a change she hadn't been moved but the giggling baby that meant the world to her was no longer in her crib.


	52. Chapter 52

"Mona," Spencer screamed as fear radiated through her body, "No this can't be happening. This can't be happening," the young Hasting thought to herself as she felt like her heart might burst through her chest any moment.

Unwilling to accept it Spencer rushed over to where the baby once lay, ruffling up the blankets that now lay at the bottom of the cot the brunette hoped that it was a trick of the mind, that her sweet innocent Mona was just hiding under sleeping softly but she was gone.

Spencer went from feeling like her heart would burst to feel like it wasn't beating at all. Her legs felt like they were glass like one small steps and they would shatter underneath her. The girl just stood there like the world had just stopped around her, her mouth slightly opened letting the air slowly creep in and out of her body.

Her mind felt empty but at the same time, it felt like an overfilled suitcase trying to be shut where you just slammed down until it finally fitted into the space you wanted. The only one thing that actually mattered in Spencer life, the thing that got her up in the morning was no longer there.

Spencer knew that was it was cruel to think like that when her friends had been there for her but the truth was that she had spent months thinking they were dead and she survived. The pain and the guilt were there but it didn't feel like this. It didn't feel like part of her soul had just been ripped out and lost forever.

Lost was an understatement, Mona wasn't lost she was stolen. Spencer felt the entire world weighing down on her, where had A taken Mona and was she gone forever?

She was alive, that was the only thing Spencer knew for certain. After all the torture that this place had thrown at her the only thing it never touched was her baby. A seemed to always have a soft spot for the child, from turning the lights down in her room when it came to night-time or making sure Spencer was always fed and healthy during pregnancy so her unborn child wouldn't suffer at the time.

Maybe the whole time A was just waiting, waiting for Spencer to fall in love with her new child just in time for them to snatch her away and watch her crumble. Throughout all that they had put her through this had to be the worst. The other option was that Mona would come back, maybe A cared about the child and gave her shots and took her outside to see the sun. Maybe Mona was safe but maybe Spencer would never see her again.

Spencer stumbled back landing on her bed as her legs gave up on her, her hand's shock and the realisation of what was happening was finally sinking in. She didn't even notice that her door had been opened until a hand reached out and tapped her shoulder.

"Spencer?" Aria questioned looking at the emotional brunette as she jumped from the shock of being touched, "Are you alright?"

Spencer turned around with tears in her eyes as Aria could tell something was seriously wrong. Looking past her, she saw the empty cot as she partly figured out what was happening.

"Where's Mona?" Aria asked trying to understand, she was trying to keep her voice hushed but it was hard when there was no input. Arias' heart broke to see Spencer the way she was, she could see the tears and the movement of the Hastings through which showed her stifled breath but she couldn't hear the sobs.

Aria knew there was only one reason why Spencer could be in this state with Mona gone, she wasn't coming back.

"I've got you," Aria comforted the girl as she caught her in an embrace. Spencer collapsed in her arms, it was so hard trying to keep herself together when the entire world was causing her to fall apart, "I've got you."

Aria kept hugging the girl through the silence, she could feel Spencer's body shaking in shock against her skin and ragged top had become damp with the tears that Spencer could stop from forming in her eyes. She didn't know how long she had been holding onto the brunet for when she felt her parting away from her.

Spencer could barely let out an audible word through her roughed breathing let along one that Aria would be able to make out. All she could do was look into her friend's eyes with a look of thankfulness that she was her for her.

Aria looked back at Spencer's eyes, they were so full of pain. Aria knew she didn't deserve this, none of them deserved this. Yes, they had done really stupid, reckless and illegal things before and it may have ended in death once or twice but it wasn't their fault that people were trying to kill them. But now with everything that had happened in the dollhouse; Mona being killed, mini Mona being taken away, Emily being drowned and comatose for a few days, her own hearing loss, being locked in a box with a dead girl, being separated from her friends for ridiculously lengthy periods of time…. Well, the list just continued and continued and despite the attempts of escape, they were still stuck in the same place that had held them captive for all this time.

Aria had lost a lot of hope that should would ever make it out, after the stunt, she pulled knocking A out and trying to escape she had lost hope that she would ever feel the sun beating down on her skin or a cold breeze rushing through her hair causing her to shiver. She had lost her freedom; her friends were her only reason for keeping on living and now they had become even more torn.

Spencer had stopped crying, there didn't seem to be anything left in her. She felt so empty despite her friend's touch she felt alone. She felt like there was no point to carrying on, wherever Mona had gone she wouldn't be following unless it was to her death.

Spencer knew she couldn't think like that, think that Mona was dead. If there was any chance at all that Mona was alive then she needed to stay that way too. She felt Arias' hand move from her side and started to stroke her hair, pulling it out of the way of her face. Her hair had grown wild in the 10 months, with the invention of the hairbrush not coming up the only way Spencer had done anything was trying to untangle her greasy locks with her fingers. It hadn't helped much each day more and more tangles where added and Spencer was certain she would have to chop off the excess hair so it would be at a more manageable length.

"I think we should go get you some water," Aria spoke out. Spencer simply nodded, her head felt like it was pounding after she had cried away her reserve of liquid.

Aria helped Spencer up as she supported her weight by slinging her arm over her shoulder and holding her waist tightly as they took the steps together towards the door. Spencer stumbled as she lost her balance once or twice she felt like she had no more energy to spare.

As they reached the hall the pair turned left, still in complete silence. Aria couldn't hear what Spencer could say while Aria didn't know the right words that could make the situation better she knew there was no way of fixing the situation.

Spencer stared mostly at the floor, watching her feet past clumsily past each other as she tried not to trip over her own bare feet. She couldn't understand why Aria had stopped walking, dragging her along. She knew they hadn't made it to the kitchen yet. Looking up Spencer saw the reason. The walls were covered with photo frames, A's achievements and the latest achievement that had been put up on the wall was a smiling photo of Spencer and her baby just before she had been taken away.


	53. Chapter 53

Toby's doorbell rang, the sound of carol singers filled the air driving the officer to make his way to the door. It was Christmas Eve but that didn't mean much to Toby, it was just another day of feeling alone, another day without Spencer. The parents had planned to have Christmas dinner around the Hastings, while Ezra had been invited his travelling had taken him far away from Rosewood too far out for him to want to pop home for the holidays. It was too painful for him anyway.

Toby opened the door shocked to look out to see only the street in front of him but the music still playing. Confused he looked down to see the beaming brown eyes looking up at him from a makeshift crate. Panicking Toby rushed out the door searching the area quickly to see who could have left the child but no one was in sight.

Cautiously Toby peered down at the baby looking up lovingly while staying completely silent. Spotting a small music player from where the music was blaring out of Toby quickly shut it off before taking the crate and carrying it into his apartment.

"Who do we have here?" Toby asked the small infant as he tried to see if any notes had been left with the child to explain what had just happened.

As Toby continued to examine the young infant started crying causing Toby to pick them. The child was wearing a brightly lit yellow knitted cardigan that hung loosely from its body like it was expected to grow into it. Toby raised the baby up as he tried to calm the child down, it seemed as if they were scared as Toby quickly assessed that it wasn't due to their diaper needing changing.

Looking down at the crate which was still covered in a warm blanket which the child had been laid in Toby spotted an envelope which the child had previously been laying on. Carefully making sure not to drop the baby the young officer reached down grabbing it and carefully pulled out the letter that it contained.

"A dead girl can speak no words," Toby read out loud as he gasped at the only person the message could be from. A had to be back, and this time they had left a present.

Placing down the letter on the counter Toby pulled out his mobile from his back pocket and quickly dialled the chief of his police department that had been working on the girl's case.

"What is it Toby," A voice came from the other end, "It's Christmas eve this better be good. I'm at home with my family and you better not be able to ruin that for me."

"But Sir," Toby tried to explain.

"No buts," The voice continued as the baby still in Toby's arms started to cry again," What is that noise?"

"A baby," Toby replied.

"Oh, it's good your surrounding yourself with people," The chief spoke out in almost relief.

"It's not mine, it was dropped at my doorstep," Toby started to explain, "with a note."

Toby heard the muffled sounds of the chief on the other end of the line of what sounded like them quickly talking to someone with them, "What did It say?"

"A dead girl can speak no words," Toby repeated what he had read earlier, the words seemed to haunt him on what the meaning could be.

"I'll be around immediately," The chief quickly replied in his stern voice, "Is it your place."

"Yes," Toby replied before he was hung up on.

About 20 minutes later there was another knock on the door as Toby opened it to reveal his chief wrapped up in a warm winter coat trying to keep out the slight cold of the night.

Toby had placed the baby back in the wooden crate wrapped up in the blanket that had been left with them. As the chief came in he stopped and looked down at the child, "Gosh this baby is young. So, I have a team coming around to see if we can pick up any clues. The suspect list at the moment is only about 100 people long so this won't be too hard to narrow it down."

"Understood Sir," Toby confirmed.

"We need to get this baby to the hospital see who it belongs to," The chief processed to decide.

"Do you think there's any chance it's one of the girls," Toby questioned.

"There's a chance. They have been missing long enough," The chief figured.

"Should I inform the parents," Toby asked.

"No, we need to keep this quiet," The chief concluded, "At least we know. We can't give false hope."

"Yeah," Toby whispered, "because hope breeds eternal misery."

After the force had arrived at Toby's apartment it had been decided to be the best idea to take the infant to the hospital to have them checked out.

"Doctor," Toby asked as a middle-aged woman entered the room holding a sheet of paper, "What can you tell?"

"She's a few weeks old but small. She was born early it seems," The Doctor started to explain, "She is doing well though. We have taken a sample of the blood, let us do our tests and we will be able to find out if the mother matches any of the DNA samples that you have on record."

"How long is that going to take," Toby asked nervously, "If the baby did end up being one of the girl's kids his world would turn upside down."

"A couple of days," The Doctor answered.

"Is that any chance you will be able to speed it up," Toby questioned.

"No, I'm afraid not," The doctor confirmed, "The department that does this is very understaffed currently due to tomorrow being Christmas. We will get it done however as quickly as we can. We understand this could potentially be involved in an open investigation."

"That is correct," Toby replied.

"We will also have to do a metabolic screening, and we might need to give the child shots. It's unknown at the moment if she is at all vaccinated," The doctor continued to explain, "Can I suggest that the child is left in hospital care or is there precautions already in place surrounding it?"

"There are no plans currently, I'll just call up my chief to see his call but I think we should go down that route," Toby replied as he took out his phone from his pocket to get confirmation.

Toby slouched down on his sofa, the force had gone and the minutes were ticking down till they hit midnight. Christmas, any moment now Toby half expected to see Santa knocking at his door giving him piles of gifts. "Maybe that was his gift- the baby," he thought as he thumbed with Spencer's letter.

"I will be the only one left," Toby read out again from the letter, "Is she's yours Spencer, is that what A had planned for you? Is that the reason A said you would carry on living?"

The wording that Spencer had used always seemed to stick out for Toby, the letter hadn't proven useful but to confirm that Spencer had been alive at the time and had written it. Maybe, just maybe Spencer had been clever tried to explain what was happening or maybe all she really wanted was for Toby to move on from her. Toby knew he could never really do that, his heart would always be saved for when he loved finally came home. If she ever did come home, "A dead girl can speak no words" Was this about Spencer, or was it just about the mother of the unknown child.


	54. Chapter 54

Jingle bell rock played over the speakers in the dollhouse as the girls found themselves once together with a plethora of food in front of them ready at their disposal. The girls couldn't believe it was Christmas day; it had crept up on them without warning. One day the dollhouse had been bare and the next it was jammed packed with tinsel that decorated the walls, a Christmas tree that found itself in the replica Hasting kitchen, and a large selection of different coloured wrapping on presents that lay under it.

Hanna was the first to speak up, "So, do we start eating then?"

"I suppose so before the turkey gets cold," Emily decided as she looked opposite from where she was sitting where Spencer was curled up on her chair. The girl had decided to stop speaking she had found it was the only way to stop herself from bursting out into tears constantly. Try and deal with it internally was her only solution.

Aria had focused all her attention on the girl too; it worked well between them with Spencer not talking while Aria was unable to hear if she actually did. Aria wasn't even paying attention while both Emily and Hanna had decided to help themselves to their first plateful. Spencer looked off into the distance towards the dreary walls as Hanna shoved some of the food onto her plate so she would hopefully start picking at it.

Spencer hadn't eaten since Mona had been taken away, she couldn't trust it anymore. There was plenty of ways that the girls could be easily separated from each other but as long as she didn't eat then one of the ways would be eliminated.

"Spencer. Spencer, snap out of it," Emily yelled from across the table as she snapped her fingers in front of her friends face. She didn't want to be rude and make it seem like she didn't care about Mona but the girls didn't know when their next meal would come from.

"Emily stop it," Aria interfered, "Give her time."

"She needs food," Emily responded as she pointed to Spencer and then the plate before the point at her wrist to show time running out.

"I know Christmas is like your favourite holiday Em but it doesn't mean everyone is going to have a good time," Aria snapped before she realised what she had said, "I'm sorry. I'm just… sorry."

Emily slumped back in her chair before resuming to start eating as worried about her friend. After about ten minutes Spencer started picking at her food to Emily much relief.

"Merry Christmas I suppose," Emily proposed as she raised up a glass that was full of water, "Foods pretty decent especially the turkey."

The group continued small talk mostly between Emily and Hanna as they continued to eat before the group couldn't bare to eat anymore. After waiting for a few minutes the speaker overhead spoke out.

"Please leave your room and followed the lighted pathway," The speaker announced as the music momentarily stopped to give the message.

The group slowly got up, Aria dragging Spencer behind her as she shuffled along, Hanna taking the lead while Emily slowly hobbled along restricted by her chained angles.

Upon entering the replica Hastings kitchen a smile crept up on the girls face as they stood amazed at the decorated Christmas tree that stood in the centre of the room. Aria upon letting go of Spencer rushed over to the selection of different coloured gifts and started to pick them up.

"They are real!" She shouted slightly too loudly in delight, "Oh, and they have our names on."

Hanna and Emily rushed around the Christmas tree as Aria started sorting all the gifts into piles for each person. Spencer dragged her feet along before dropping down and resting her head on Emily's knee.

"We have," Aria spoke out as she neatly staked gift upon gift onto of each other, "Spencer, Me, Emily, Me again, Spencer, Spencer again, Hanna, Emily, Me, Emily, Spencer…"

The group watched as Emily's, Aria's and Spencer's piles continued to grow while Hannas stayed with one neatly wrapped gift.

"Only one?" Hanna questioned as the last gift was placed onto the respective piles.

"Looks like it," Emily spoke confused at the size of her pile compared to her friends, maybe A was trying to apologise for something, "So how are we opening them, one at a time or free for all?"

"Just open them," Spencer mumbled as she started to slowly rip part of the wrapping of a smaller gift unwrapping a small mp3 player with added headphones.

"Oh sweet," Emily's face lit up as she saw she had a similarly shaped parcel and imminently unwrapped it revealing the same item but in blue.

The group continued to unwrap items revealing different books of literature including; Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the flies, Little Women, Animal farm, War and Peace, Great Expectation and Lolita. With Aria Spencer and Emily also unwrapping new clean outfits, educational books which showed university level information from a selection of courses and smaller Puzzles including a Rubik cube.

The last present which all the girls shared was in the shape of a book, unwrapping it at the same time delight spread across Aria's face as she saw it was a book on ASL. She would finally be able to learn proper sign language and get to speak to her friends with some normality.

Hanna looked at her lack of a pile in comparison to her friends who were covered in gifts.

"How come you guys got so much more stuff then I did," Hanna complained, "How is this fair?"

"Since when was any of this fair?" Emily responded, "Just feel lucky that A actually got you something. Also be thankful that we were let out for Christmas to spend it with each other and we are not being tortured alone in our rooms."

"But you guys got loads of stuff," Hanna continued to moan, "All I got is an ASl book. Which you all got too."

"And now we can learn how to sign so Aria can understand us too," Emily raised her voice slightly," It's not fair that she can't hear anymore, it's not fair that Mona got taken away, It's not fair that I died! Feel yourself, Lucky Hanna; compared to us you have had to deal with the least amount of crap."

Aria looked at both girls who had started arguing with each other, the fast tempo of their mouths had made it impossible to follow along with the conversation but from the girl's hand movements and the frustration of Emily's face, she could tell Hanna had hit a nerve. Emily had been the most caring girl before everything had happened, her excitement for the festive holiday had brought light to all their lives every year but now her attitude seemed to be so full of annoyance and hate for the season.

"Guys stop!" Aria pleaded as she saw both girls look towards her with guilt on their faces, "Please just stop arguing. It's Christmas. Just please stop."

Aria saw both the girls mouth an apology as they suddenly shot upright confusing the girl, "What is it?"

"Voices," was all Hanna replied as she stood up from where she was sitting and walked over to the door to try and tell where the voices were coming from. Pausing at the door she instructed the others to join here.

Emily stood up and slowly struggled to make it to the door, the one thing she really wished for Christmas was a new collar so her feet would become unchained from each other. It was a better option than being able to walk ten centimetres with each step.

"What about Spencer?" Aria questioned the girls as they separated from the group.

"Let her sleep," Emily turned back to face the girl as she used hand signals, "She needs it."

Once Emily had reached Hanna the blonde lead her down the corridor towards where the noise was coming from. After being out of sight for Aria the small brunette got up took a quick glance towards the sleeping girl before making her way to the others.

"It's coming from the games room," Emily announced as they were getting closer to the source, "The voices. Could it be A reinstalled the TV?!"

Hanna walked slightly in front of the group as she swung open the door to reveal the glaring screen of the monitor, "Yes!"

Running up the to monitor Hanna tried to change the dial to see different channels but it only showed one empty image.

"It's not working," Hanna sulked.

"It has to be, we are getting sound," Emily spoke determinable as she collapsed herself onto one of the chairs that crowded around the spot.

Aria made her way in front of the monitor as she rested her hand against the crumbly image, "it's Spencer's home."

"No it isn't," Hanna tried to complain before realising the memorised girl couldn't see her.

"The image is blurry but it's there," The girl continued, "See," Aria pointed to a semi-visible piece of furniture, "its Spencer's dining room."

"Why can't we see anyone then but we can hear voices," Hanna asked out.

"Simple, they are behind the camera. The obviously secret, bad quality, hidden camera that's been smuggled into the Hasting dinner room is just not in the right position."

"Mrs Hastings I'm just going to put the drink in the dining room for later," A masculine voice called out as it grew louder and louder until the figure appeared on the screen.

"Toby!" Emily half screamed as the young officer made his way onto the screen. It almost seemed like she was calling out in a chance he would hear her, "Ok now we wake Spencer up. Hanna please."

"On it," Hanna replied as she was already mostly out the door.

"Spencer you better wake up right now," Hanna shouted as she tried to drag the groaning girl who had just become annoyed at being woken up, "The TV is back."

Spencer hardly moved, "So?"

"And we just saw Toby." that got Spencer attention, the brunette jerked her head up to meet the blonde's eyes hoping for confirmation that she wasn't lying. As she looked she saw the gleam of hope and happiness that couldn't have been faked. Spencer scrambled to her feet beating Hanna to the door as she dashed down the corridor.

"Where is he?" Spencer burst out shocking Emily as she passed her by sitting herself quickly next to Aria.

The girls watched intently as they saw there family and loved ones slowly enter the room and dine together before after a few hours everyone had disappeared. The girls could see their faces there was the pain that they were not with them but it was also nice to see their own situation

"Please return to your rooms," The speaker announced at the monitor shut itself off.

"Well I think we should collect our stuff and head back then," Emily announced as she signalled to Aria it was time to leave.

As the group collected their newfound toys they embraced each other as they tried not to break out into tears, it had been hard to see all their family together and happy. As they walked into the rooms unsure on when they would next be let out their doors slammed behind them.

Hanna clutched hold of her new book, She knew it was going to become super helpful to learn ASL. It had been weird being unable to talk to one of her best friends but she was jealous of everything the others girls had received. Walking into her room she looked at the dark black rocks that covered her bed and floor.

"Coal is for naughty children," Hanna read a note out loud before throwing it onto the floor.


	55. Chapter 55

"Thank you so much for the amazing dinner," Caleb exclaimed as the group settled down after finishing their Christmas dinner in the dining room, "Are you sure you don't want some help clearing up."

"It's fine Caleb, your guests in this house," Mrs Hasting reassured the man, "Plus I cooked the dinner so that means Peter has to do the clearing up."

"I don't mind you helping," Mr Hastings butted in.

Mrs Hasting gave a split-second stern look at her husband before jokingly saying, "He will do anything to not having to do it. Just relax."

The group turned silent for a moment before the tv screen quickly flickered on.

"Did someone accidentally sit on the remote," Toby asked as he stood up to try and turn it off before the image flashed up in front causing him to stop where he was and just stare at the monitor, "Spencer."

Immediate the rest of the group got up and crowded by the monitor mesmerised by the image.

"Is that?" Ella questioned as she saw what the young Hasting was cuddling in her arms.

"Yeah," Veronica stuttered, "That's a… That's a baby."

"Oh my god," Toby looked at the screen baffled as he saw the yellow cardigan wrapped around the infant's body, "I have to. I have to go, I'm sorry. The meal was amazing."

Toby quickly took out his phone from his back pocket snapping a quick photo the screen before him before sending it quickly to his chief, "I'm sorry," he spoke stumbling back slightly trying to get away from the group that had surrounded him. Exiting through the door he didn't get many glances as the group was too fixated on the screen and on the girl, they hadn't seen for so long.

Toby drove as fast as the speed limit would allow him to the hospital, as he entered the carpark he checked on his phone. 5 new messages and 2 missed calls. Scrolling through the information he was bombarded with another call from his chief.

"We can't know for certain Toby," The chief warned, "Where are you?"

"At the hospital, I have to know. I have to know if she's Spencer's," Toby replied his voice wavering, "I have to know if she is mine."

"They don't know yet Toby," The chief replied, "I would be the first one informed, they said it could take a few days and it has hardly been one."

"I don't care," Toby retorted, "If she is my baby I am not going to allow her to spend Christmas by herself."

"Fine," The chief sighed, "Just keep me updated. I'm still spending this holiday with my family so unless it's important."

"Understood Sir," Toby understood, "Bye," with that he hanged up his call and darted out of his car making sure to look it on the way out before hurriedly rushing to the front desk.

"Hello Hi, um. I'm looking for the DNA testing place," Toby spoke.

"Are you here to visit someone?" The receptionist behind the counter asked.

"Um. Kind of. Well, it's a long story, a baby was brought in yesterday which was abandoned on my doorstep. I need to see her," Toby voiced.

"Are you family?" The recaptioned requested an answer.

"Maybe, she might be my daughter," Toby responded.

"Might be?" The receptionist spoke as a worried look crossed her face.

"I need a paternity test done. There is already being a test done to determine the mother but there was new evidence in the case," Toby tried to explain.

"Evidence? Case? Are you part of the force sir?" the receptionist asked more and more unsure about the man in front of her.

"Yeah," Toby exclaimed as he reached for his badge, "See. I need to speak to one of the doctors in charge of her case."

Toby had started drawing attention from hospital guests that were waiting in the reception area to be seen.

"Do you know who oversees the child's care, I could send a message to them if you wait over there," the receptionist declared.

"um…." Toby paused," No sorry, if you just call up and say who I am someone must know," the officer begged, "Please."

"Fine," The receptionist sighed, "Please go sit down over there and I'll get someone to come down to see you."

After about 10 minutes Toby saw the doctor that he recognised from the previous day. Immediately shooting up onto his feet which had been tapping against the ground for the best part of the time.

"Mr Cavanaugh," The Doctor announced themselves, "May I see you in my office, I received a call from your chief about the latest information."

Following the Doctor closely Toby sat down in the chair that was offered to him.

"May I see the image?" The doctor asked politely.

Without saying anything Toby got out his phone, the photo was still on the screen from where he had been looking at it. Carefully he handed it over.

Studying it carefully the Doctor replied, "I see. Mr Cavanaugh, we are currently having the baby's DNA sequenced. The girls had already been done and we can rush the progress along if we get the whole team on it. We would like under the new conditions to take a DNA sample of yourself so we can also see if the baby's matches yours."

"You mean you think she could be mine?" Toby asked in an almost hushed whisper afraid that what he thought he was hearing could be wrong, "If it is, in fact, that child then there is a possibility, after we determine if one of the girls is the mother if it is not Mrs Hastings then we will also need the DNA from the other girl's respective partners. If none of the male DNA matches up it might just help you with a new lead."

Toby thought for a second before It hit him of what the doctor was talking about. If the baby wasn't his, Caleb's or Ezra's then that meant that the girls had gone through an ordeal that he couldn't bear to think about.

"Can, Can I see her," Toby stuttered.

"Yes, you may, but after we collect your DNA. I'm going to put it on high priority so those results will come in soon after we determine the mother." The doctor agreed.

After visiting one of the medical rooms to have his DNA swabbed from the inside of his mouth Toby was lead to where Mona had been kept. She had been kept away from the others due to the nature of the case, the room had constant supervision with a nurse's station just outside of the door.

Toby drove himself quietly into the room, the young child was almost silent but wasn't asleep. Toby peered over from where she was lying, a smile plastered over her face as for a moment her big eyes looked directly into his.

Toby continued to look longingly at it hit him how this could be his baby, he might be a dad. As the realisation sunk in Toby felt his phone go off in his pocket.

"Caleb," Toby muttered to himself before answering the call, "Hey man."

"Where do you?!" the voice on the other end exclaimed, "How could you run off after the tv turning on and showing that."

"I know. I'm sorry," Toby tried to apologise before being cut off.

"Like, is that's Spencer's kid. Is that's Spencer's baby. Does that mean? Like. What does that mean?" Caleb continued.

"I don't know I really don't know man. It depends," Toby articulated.

"Depends on what?" Caleb questioned confused.

"Who's the kid is," Toby told.

"And how are we meant to find out?" Caleb retorted with a sense of disbelief of what he was hearing.

"She was dropped off at my doorstep yesterday." Toby replied before the line fell silent.


	56. Chapter 56

Coal covered all of Hanna's bed and floor, there was no way for her to move without the black rock being underfoot. Defeated Hanna stood in the little empty space that was left untainted by the doorway.

"What did I do to deserve this," Hanna moaned as she slumped down against the door and rested her head against the wall, "The other's got loads of nice stuff and I get a room full of coal. Can't be because I'm the only one not in the Christmas spirit, like Emily, the Christmassy of us all like tried to bite my head off tonight."

Looking over at the piece of paper that she had sprawled across the room Hanna sighed, "Coal is for the naughty child," She repeated, "So what have I actually done wrong."

Thinking back over the past year Hanna couldn't put a pivotal moment that would cause her to be considered in that light, She had been the only one that hadn't attempted to escape, sure she had threatened A only a few occasions brandishing a knife to the camera when Aria had been screaming. Sure although she wasn't hurt as much as the other girls with Spencer left abandoned for months, her not being able to save Mona on both fronts, Aria going deaf being looked up with a dead girl, Emily being momentarily killed and being locked up restricting her movement ever since, but it wasn't like she wasn't free from the torture.

She has still gone through days alone without food or water or anything to keep her entertained, It seemed almost unsurprising now to think of it that the trend of being constantly starved of entertainment still followed suit. Or maybe this was just the punishment that she hadn't managed to eat all the worms and maggots in time and she had allowed Emily to drown. Or maybe A just didn't feel guilty for what they had done to her and thought she had already got off easy enough.

At the end of the day, it didn't really matter what the actual reason for it was, Hanna didn't want to feel even more guilty for past mistakes. Now the only thing to worry about was getting all the coals off her bed so that she could get some rest.

Carefully the blonde tried to clear a pathway to the bed, pushing the rocks to each side with her feet to reduce the amount of damage staining her body and clothes. Upon reaching the coal covered sheets Hanna grabbed both ends of the covers and lifted them up causing the rocks to trample to the ground with a loud thud only revealing a layer of coals that lay underneath the sheet.

"For the love of god!" Hanna exclaimed as she saw the under sheets were as filthy as the rest of the room, "There is no way I am sleeping in that tonight."

Closing her eyes for a moment and taking in a deep breath to try and calm herself down so she didn't end up pissing off her kidnapper with were probably watching her every move. Coughing suddenly Hanna peered around to where the entrance of the door was with its small space of untouched ground.

Thinking for a moment Hanna tried to consider if she would be able to fit in the tiny space, It would be a tight squeeze even with all the weight that she had lost in the past year but undoubtedly if she curled up into a tight ball she would be able to fit herself in.

Placing her already filthy feet by the coals Hanna rested her head against the skirting board where the least amount of filth had developed. Despite hardly any attention being placed on keeping her blonde locks clean, she was not about to allow it to become black with soot. Even with all the dirt that made residence on her body, there was no chance Hanna knew she would pull off black hair.

Hours passed, the next day had begun and Hanna was still trapped in her coal-filled prison cell. Sitting up the sudden realisation dawned on the blonde that even though her room might have been filled up with the rocks the small toilet that joined her room might have been spared.

Getting up and carefully pushing the rooms aside with her feet to make a pathway Hanna cautiously started to move towards her cupboard door where behind the facilities where held. Pulling the door open and putting all her weight on it to shift the coals that blocked its entry on the floor Hanna stopped and stared at the even bigger mess that laid in front of her.

The floor was covered in 2 layers of the murky rocks, they piled up in the sink and was piling out of the toilet.

"Eww Grose," Hanna squired as she realised she would have to remove the items from the now blocked toilet before it would become available to be used again. The thought of having to shove her hand down the toilet to remove the rocks made a shiver travel down Hanna's spine.

Leaning over, using the side of the wall for support Hanna tested the tap of the water. To Hanna's delight, it seemed to be the only thing that hadn't been tampered with.

Looking down at the toilet seat and then her hands the blonde knew she would finally have to get her hands dirty but at least she would be able to clean them off afterwards. One by one Hanna picked up the rocks, after just reaching the rim of the bowl Hanna stopped and sighed feeling unable to deliver her hands into the bowl any further.

Without thinking Hanna wiped her brow with the back of her hand, "Oh crap," She exclaimed as the realising that her forehead was now also covered with the powdered substance. Annoyed the blonde reached down into the bowl picking up on the rocks she threw it against the back of the wall of the enclosed area.

"Oh good, I look terrible now. I have to look so bad, like if it wasn't already bad enough," Hanna squirmed. Taking a step backwards the blonde caught her reflection in the mirror that held its ground on her desk, "Great, just great."

Reaching down again to remove the rest of the coal from the bowl Hanna felt the lukewarm water splash against her skin and run down her hand as she continued her job at hand.

Upon finished her task Hanna turned on the facet to her sink as she watched a little bit of water sprinkle out before the water disappeared.

"Are you kidding me," Hanna exclaimed once again, "Can I just have one nice thing in this place, I'm not going to be able to read my new book with these grubby hands without ruining all the pages."

After no reply from the speaker and no water coming out from the tap, Hanna felt defeated. Deciding the best option would be to try and improve her situation and move all the coals to one corner in her bedroom Hanna set out on her task. Throwing all the coals into the corner a small shock radiated every time one of the rocks smashed against the wall harshly causing Hanna to momentarily stop.

After what seemed like hours all the rocks were in one corner but the mess it had left behind was still there. The sheets were filthy and Hanna doubted that even if the water was turned back on she wouldn't be able to wash all of the filth out of them.

Collapsing on the bed Hanna had a moment to think about how the other girls must be. Aria and Emily should be ok since they had last seen each other but Spencer was another story. With no knowledge of where Mona could be the stressed-out parent would most likely just be crying on her bed lifeless and unwilling to do anything until her daughter was returned.


	57. Chapter 57

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I have been forgetting to post on here, anyway here is all the new chapters.

"Mr Cavanaugh," A nurse quietly spoke trying to wake the sleeping officer who had set up camp in the infant's room in the hospital, walking over the man placed his hand on Toby's shoulder shocking him into waking up.

"What no, I'm awake," Toby let out startled.

"I'm sorry to disturb you but the DNA results have been done, you remember Doctor Cooper?" the nurse continued, "She is just going to be in in a few minutes, would you like to do this here or in her office?"

"Here is fine," Toby mumbled, "Do you know anything?"

"No," the nurse laughed slightly, "I'm just the messenger. This case is on a need to know basis and I'm not one of the people that need to know."

"Mr Cavanaugh," The Doctor entered the room.

"Doctor Cooper, hi. Um… What were the results?" Toby questioned as he stood up to shake the doctor's hand.

"Would you like to come to my office?" Doctor Cooper asked as he hand meet the officers shaking it briskly.

"Here's fine," Toby quickly responded anxious for the results," Completely fine. Fire away. What's the news?"

Toby sat back down, he could feel his legs shaking as his whole body longed for the answer to all his questions.

"The test results came in, you're a father," The Doctor spoke out clearly stating as little information as possible to stop the man from exploding in his seat.

Toby's heart felt like it stopped, he looked over at the small baby lying there in the same room as him. She's was his, which meant she was Spencer's.

"She's Spencer's," Toby whispered.

"Yes," The doctor spoke as she looked at the officer who was in complete shock.

"And she is mine," Toby continued.

"Yes," The Doctor confirmed.

"What does this mean?" Toby queried.

"Since the baby doesn't have a birth certificate due to the nature of this we can now create one, especially since we now know who here parents are," The doctor explained, "It also means if you would like you can give her a name."

"Ok," Toby thought about the doctor's words as the world felt like it was spinning around him," What about Spencer?"

"We can tell due to the baby's own health that Miss Hastings health is in reasonable condition, the seemingly early birth could be because of a number of things such as stress which would be expected in the situation," Doctor Copper tried to explain.

"No, I mean," Toby paused, "What if Spencer already gave her a name?"

"There's no way for us to know at the moment due to the circumstances, and I'm afraid to say there is a chance you might never find out. Is there any family you would like me to contact about this news? I've got the officer on the case coming to my office soon to explain the situation and to give the evidence so there is a chance it might become public knowledge soon due to the investigation." Doctor Cooper spoke.

"No, No," Toby stuttered, "I've got to tell them. They know about the baby, but that doesn't know it's here."

"Are you okay, would you like someone to get you a drink or something while you take in the news," The doctor asked as she could tell that the officer was still bemused by the fact that he was now a father and the sets that would happen going forward.

"I'm good, Can I hold her?" Toby asked.

"Of course, make sure to support her head. I'll leave you two to bond. Call one of the nurses any time if you need any help," The doctor responded as she left Toby alone with Mona.

"So, what am I going to call you," Toby cooed as he picked up his child, for what felt like the truly first time.

* * *

Spencer sat in the middle of her floor motionless, it was the Boxing day supposedly and despite the pile of gifts, she had received her heart and soul felt empty. The tears had long since dried up but it had left her with a constant headache.

Fear plagued her mind, she had to know where Mona was. She had to strike a deal with the devil in order to get her baby back, A could easily break her down, shock her with the collar still held around her neck but Spencer doubted the pain she could feel would be worse than this, and maybe just for a moment she would forget that her baby was gone.

The furniture hadn't moved in the room, the crib with its blankets lay in the same space as when Spencer had reached down to find her baby not there. The recent paint on the wall left a painful reminder of what was any hope of what it could have been.

"Where are you Mona," Spencer mumbled in despair, "Where did they take you?"

* * *

Toby put down his young baby, knowing the time constraint on everything he pulled out his phone and called the Hasting residence.

"Toby, thank god you called. I've been so worried about you," Mrs Hastings spoke quickly as soon as the line was answered, "When you rushed off like that after the video, then you haven't been picking up whenever I called your home phone."

"I'm fine Mrs Hastings," Toby paused as he was about the share the newly come information, "This is actually about that video. The baby."

"We know, is it hers?" Veronica rushed to speak before toby could finish, "Do you know if it's yours. I've just been worried all this time on what it all means and how."

"She's mine," Toby spoke in a hushed voice.

"She?" Veronica raised her voice, "How do you know that the baby's a she?"

"She was dropped off at my house Christmas eve, she was brought to the hospital. They ran some tests, She's mine and Spencer's,"

The line went dead as Toby wasn't sure if someone had accidentally hung up.

"Mrs Hastings are you ok?" Toby question worried that the women had had a heart attack from the shock.

"She's here? In Rosewood?" Veronica blurted out as she managed to get her voice back.

"Yeah," Toby established.

"I'm a Grandmother," Mrs Hastings realised.

Before Toby could respond he heard talking in the background of the Hastings phone call, the voice belonging to the other Hasting, "Veronica what's happening?"

"The baby on the video, She's Spencer's. She's at the hospital," Toby could hear the muffled replies, "Toby," The voice began to appear clearer, "We are coming. What room are you in?"

"I'll come get you when you arrive," Toby suggested.

"Nonsense," Mrs Hastings retorted, "Stay with your daughter, does anyone else know."

"Some Doctors and the force is being told as we speak," Toby explained before telling the directions to get the medical room and hanging up to be with his daughter again.

After a quick drive from the Hastings, the two new grandparents turned up to the hospital room to introduce themselves to their new granddaughter.

Mrs Hastings immediately held onto Mona feeling like it was the first connection that she had with Spencer since she had gone missing at the start of the year, "So what are you thinking of naming her?"

"I was thinking Marion, after my mother," Toby spoke waiting for a reaction.

"That's a beautiful name Toby," Veronica spoke as she looked at her husband who was looking down trying not to cry at the young baby.


	58. Chapter 58

A week had passed in the dollhouse after the girls had been let out for Christmas, as the doors opened stopping the continuous buzz that came from them when the girls were locked up stopped.

"Hanna, you filthy!" Emily exclaimed as she saw the blonde drag herself out of her prison of a room, "What the hell are you covered with."

Hanna moaned as she looked down at herself, it was true she did look awful but to be fair she hasn't had running water for the past week and her bedsheets were stained with black coal dust, "It's coal. Just. Just don't look in my room."

Aria unsure of what was happening tried to peer around the blonde to see the state of which she had just come from.

As the group stood awkwardly together, Spencer still staying very quiet Hanna decided that enough was enough she needed a shower. Walking quickly to the shower she turned the handle only for no water to come out of the head, "Damn it."

"Hey Em," Hanna called along the corridor as she walked back, "The showers not working can I use your bathroom. A cut my water supply."

"Sure, just please don't get the coal everywhere," Emily pleaded as she allowed Hanna into her room.

As the blonde disappeared from view and the sound of water could be heard from the corridor Aria and Emily decided despite Hanna's warnings earlier to explore the new living conditions Hanna had found herself in.

"Oh my God," Aria quietly mumbled, "She was made to live in this?!"

The two girls looked at the room in amazement at how poorly the girl had been living, the empty plates of food had started piling up and the room was nearly unrecognisable of what it had been when they had first adventured into it.

Spencer slightly curious about what Aria had mumbled about joined the two others as she looked up slightly to see the madness which was unfolded in front of her. The depressed girl changed no sign of behaviour from what she was witnessing.

The water stopped in the other room and Hanna emerged, "Hey, I said don't look!"

Emily quickly nudged Aria as she shot around to see the blonde look of despair on her slightly cleaner face.

"Sorry I didn't hear you," Aria immediately responded unsure of what else to say.

Shuffling out of the room Aria closed the door behind her as Emily quickly turned to her friend and with a happy expression started to sign some basic words, "How are you?"

Aria's eyes lit up as she recognised what the swimmer was doing, "You've been reading the book then?"

After failing for a moment to try and remember the sign for yes Emily replied with a thumb up.

"I'm sorry, I haven't started learning yet," Hanna tried to apologise hoping that either Emily would be able to translate or Aria would be able to read her lips, "I didn't want to get the book dirty with all the grime covering my hands."

"Ok how about we start now," Emily suggested, "In the game's room perhaps?"

Slowly the group moved to the games room as the crowded around the table, "So follow my hands," Emily instructed as she started off with some of the basic signs. Raising her hand to her head flat with the sign for the letter B she pushed her hand out slightly, "This is hello. See, you try it."

Hanna tried to copy as she had Emily correct her hands.

"You'll get there," Emily reassured.

"Ok and this is no," Emily showed, having her index and middle finger joined as brought them down to her thumb before brings them up again.

"Like this," Hanna questioned.

"Kind of, but use your left hand," Emily replied.

"Why?" the blonde questioned repeating the sign repeatedly.

"It's just like that in the book, I'm not sure if it might be different on the other hand," Emily explained.

The two-continued practising as Aria rested her head on Spencer's shoulder, "Still no news then," Aria asked as she looked up towards Spencer's face.

The brunette shook her head as she tried to hold back her emotions, "nothing."

Although unable to understand what Spencer was saying through the girl's actions she knew what the answer was, she could see the sadness in her eyes and the longing to be returned to her baby.

"Come here," Aria requested as she put an arm around Spencer and held her close.

"So, this is scared," Emily showed, "I picked out all the ones I would have probably used this year, so yes there is a lot of ones for distressing situations. We are going to have to learn this all for Aria, we both know that her hearing isn't going to come back."

"Do you think the kitchen is stocked," Hanna questioned, "I'm starving," she continued as she processed to do the sign she had just learned previously, "and by the looks of it Spencer hasn't been eating either, just look at how much weight she has lost in the past week, it's visible."

"She is still healthier than the rest of us," Emily pointed out.

"Em, I don't think they are great standards to go by," Hanna laughed, "Come on I want some food."

* * *

"I haven't changed a diaper in goodness knows how long," Mr Hastings spoke out.

"You didn't really even change diapers then either," Mrs Hastings joked as she looked at her mortified husband who was trying to figure out how to change the diaper," Do you need some help?"

"No, I've got this," Peter spoke determinably.

"It's on the wrong way," Toby tuned in as he walked into the Hastings kitchen.

The officer had been off work for the previous week looking after his new daughter and moving into the Hastings barn so that he would be closer to the rest of the family and allow looking after Marion to become easier. They all felt like they had been thrown into the deep end.

"Good morning Toby," Veronica piped up, "How did Marion sleep last night?"

Mr Hastings had taken Marion in the morning after Toby had decided that he needed to have a shower and Marion has started to cry due to her diaper needing changing.

"She didn't" Toby replied bluntly.

"How about you then?" Mrs Hastings queried politely.

Toby poured himself a cup of strong coffee, there were visible bags under his eyes from the long nights of staying awake with the baby's crying, "What do you think."

Despite technically being on paternity leave so he could deal with all of Marion's medical appointments and give her the best care possible and bonding with his daughter Toby had still managed to pop back into the station every day to get caught up with any news on how the case was going.

Despite regulations, he had taken some of the files home to work on when Marion kept him awake at night as he tried to soothe her. Toby could tell it was frustrating for the young infant being in a completely unfamiliar environment being surrounded by people she didn't know and being far away from her mother which seemed to love her very much.


	59. Chapter 59

2 and a half months passed in the dollhouse as little changed in the outside world, Mona had settled into her new family and the Hastings although keeping to their busy jobs kept time to look after their granddaughter at least twice a week. Toby had gone back to work part-time, when Toby and the Hastings were all not available Alison took care of the child.

In her words, it, "Gives me a reason to leave the house." Since being released from prison Alison had spent most of her time locked away in her house thinking over her regrets of what had led her to that moment. She blamed herself for everything and while she was stuck in such a negative mindset she was almost certain that the girls were almost certainly dead.

"One year," Toby stated, "She has been gone one year. Do you even know what the chances are that we will ever find her?"

"Toby," Caleb spoke out, "The girl's situation isn't the same as most other people that have gone missing. I know, I know Hanna is alive and I will find her."

"But one year. At what point will people just presume that they are never coming back?" Toby questioned reluctantly.

"When new evidence stops coming forward I suppose," Caleb sighed, "but the investigation is still open. I mean look at Marion she just turned up on your doorstep, ok we didn't get any DNA or anything from the scene but still, it just proved Spencer was alive and that's enough to keep looking."

"But what happens when A stops taunting us with footage and gifts when the next step of taunting is just silence," Toby asked.

"We will never stop looking you know that, right?" Celeb stated, "Anyway shift is nearly over. Is Marion at the Hastings or Alison's currently."

"Alison," Toby replied, "She has been surprisingly very good with Marion. She has been taking her to some baby classes."

"Any plans for tonight? You're not, alone are you?" Caleb asked concerned.

"Alison said she would stay over, make sure I don't get drunk or if I do to make sure the baby is ok," Toby replied.

"You know I'm here for you right?" Caleb put his hand on Toby's shoulder, "You've been there for me in some of my dark times don't bottle it all up inside and alcohol is never a permanent solution."

"I know," Toby sighed as he started turning his computing off on the desk he was working at, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Why won't it just shut up," Hanna screamed in frustration as the constant music blasting out the speakers at full volume, "We get it, for goodness sake we get it. You have had Spencer locked up in this hell hole for a year now. Do you want a freaking medal?"

Aria grabbed hold of the blonde's shoulder from where she was sitting to the side of her and pulled her round to face her, "Calm down," She signed.

"You can't hear this it's painful," Hanna shouted as she flimsy tried to sign out what she was saying as well.

Aria paused before signing, "A won't turn it off with you complaining."

"We are all going to lose our hearing if this isn't shut off," Hanna mumbled too quiet to be heard over the sound.

It had been Hanna's birthday 10 days prior to the big celebration and just like how Christmas had gone Hanna received nothing that brought any joy to her life. She was fed up and miserable and felt like is she spent another day locked up which would end up being confined to Radley if they ever were found.

It would be expected that with all the empty time Hanna had she would have a better grasp on sign language by now with it being her one of her few forms of entertainment but the blonde had been finding it difficult as she didn't often have anyone to practise with and when she did it would sometimes take a while to make sure they were real.

The hallucinations that plagued her mind where often so random, when Caleb or her mom turned up it was a nice break but other times she would be visited but unexpected people like Melissa, Spencer's sisters who would scream at her that she wasn't looking after Spencer enough and too look at what state she had allowed her to get too.

The coal still cluttered her bedroom but the water had been turned back on and the bedsheets after many hours seemed reasonably clean, at least for sheets that hadn't been properly washed in a year. The coal had proven to have another purpose than to destroy Hanna had used it to start creating. The coal blocks had been used like chalk rubbing up against the walls to create drawings that gave her something to focus on. The coal didn't help with respiratory problems but it gave her something to do.

Hanna paused as he looked over to Spencer, her hallucinations were right about one thing she was getting too skinny. Her clothes hang off her frame and to anyone joking about losing the pregnancy fat Spencer's transformation would have put them to shame.

"Have you been eating anything?" Hanna tried to sign to the brunette who seemed to be staring off into the distance.

Spencer gave no reply not realising that she had been spoken too. Emily nudged her slightly which pulled her back into the world. Hanna repeated what she had signed.

Spencer didn't respond, not because she didn't know the answer she did but because she knew that the blonde wouldn't be happy with how long it had been. Her stomach had stopped complaining about

Hanna knew just from the way Spencer held her head as she looked at her that It had been too long. Slowly Hanna lifted her fingers one by one indicating the number of days. After all, five fingers, on one hand, was lifted Spencer nodded.

"You need to eat," Hanna signed as a worried expression crossed her face, "Aria please tell her too, she listens to you. If she doesn't start eating who knows what A will do."

"What's the worse A can do," Spencer started to sign, "They already took away Mona, I don't have much left to lose. I doubt A would want to lose their precious dolls just to make me eat."

As Spencer finished signing the music shut off and relief fell onto Hanna's and Emily's faces.

"Thank god that's over," Emily sighed as she removed her hands that had been clasping over her ears.

"Please return to your rooms," The speaker announced before the lights turned off and on again twice. It had been a new system that A had implemented due to Aria inability to hear, after the first couple of days Aria knew what each of the signals meant but it still seemed easier to ignore them or just close her eyes and block them out.

The girls said their goodbyes and returned to their rooms, all the girls deciding that they should turn in for the night and get some sleep.

As Spencer collapsed into bed she heard her door opening behind her as two figures appeared. As they grew closer Spencer shot out of bed and tried to get as far away from the visitors as she could. She knew if they attacked she would have no chance of fighting them off.

Pain shot down her body as the shock collar was turned on causing Spencer to lose everything that had kept her standing. Collapsing on the floor she saw the figure grow ever so closer as the grabbed her by her arms and started dragging her backwards towards the door.

The collar was shut off but the little amount of effort Spencer could put trying to hit or stop her movement hardly affected her kidnappers. She saw as they dragged her from her room down the corridor and into the medical rooms which shone more brightly than the rest of the dollhouse.

"Get off me!" Spencer screamed as she was scared of what was about to happen.

"Get her on the bed and tie her down," A voice commanded that was starting to set up a thick creamy liquid that was held in an IV bag up to a pump device.

The two figures that were dragging her hauled her up on top of the bed, as one of the figures let go to sort out the restraints Spencer used her now free arm to try and attack the other figure who would now fully in charge of keeping her down.

"Get off me I said," Spencer screamed again as her wrists were both pinned down onto the bare mattress and the first of her legs found itself trapped. Kicking around furiously Spencer managed to kick the first figure in the face, a small thought of victory crossed her mind before she found the figure looming over her as their leather glove slapped her face before muttering, "bitch."

After the struggle, Spencer found herself unable to move her limbs, her head was forced back and restrained with her collar being attached with chains to the head of the bed.

"Please don't do this, please," Spencer begged as she saw the needle coming towards her skin as the figure tried to find a vain to stab it into.

Spencer stopped struggling, she had no chance to escape and by struggling it just meant that instead of the needle easily finding a vain she would end up like a pin cushion. Spencer watched wide eyes as she saw the rest of the procedure is set up before she felt the liquid start to enter her body. At that point, she felt a tearing rush down her face as she was looked up and down.

"You need to eat," The first figure warned, "We can't have you not eating. If you don't start after this the only thing to do is to force you and we don't want that, do we?"

After the first tear had fallen down her check Spencer felt the build-up of water in her eyes, "I promise. I'll start eating, just stop please just stop."

"Stay with her," One of the figures commanded, "And when this is all done make sure she doesn't forget that she has no choice here."


	60. Chapter 60

"Spencer?" Hanna called into the dark prison cell of the brunette's room, "Are you in there?"

There was no reply.

"Where the heck is she then," Emily spoke out, "You don't think."

"That's she in the dark room," Hanna replied, "I'm not holding my breath."

"Guys, what's happening?" Aria tried to get their others attention as she had been standing to the side as the two girls spoke to each other.

"Spencer's gone," Emily signed to Aria as the fear grew on the small girl's face.

"And you think…" Aria paused not wanting it to be true.

Both Hanna and Emily nodded in reply.

"I'll go check the rest of the rooms," Hanna decided, "wait here."

"Like I have much of a choice still can't walk fast with my ankles chained together," Emily pointed out.

Hanna continued down the corridor shouting outs Spencer's name but no reply came back

Both Emily and Aria waited for the blonde to return.

"Nothing she is nowhere," Hanna through her arms up in the air, "All the rooms are open, well apart from to that corridor."

"So, she is definably there then," Aria spoke out after the group has stopped speaking for a moment.

"It looks like it. What do we do now?" Hanna asked

"Is there anything we can do?" Emily whispered, "Do you want to end up there too? You know what happens when we misbehave."

"So, do we just ignore it, like Spencer is ok," Hanna questioned, "pretend everything is fine?"

The group, as well as speaking, had been continuing to use sign language to express their words, it was a long way from being perfect but it gave Aria and understanding of what was being said.

"It's been over a year for all of us now," Aria spoke, "Everything is not fine. They've stopped looking, haven't they? We don't know where Spencer is and we don't know where Mona is. I don't know if I can just pretend everything is fine. Like what if Spencer going missing is just like Mona going where we don't see her again."

"Aria, Aria calm down," Emily put both her hands-on Aria's shoulders as she tried to stop the rambling that was getting out of control, "They hadn't stopped looking one year after Ali went missing and with our family's they won't have stopped."

"And what about Spencer or Mona!?" Aria raised her voice louder then she realised, "Where are they!"

"We saw Spencer," Hanna paused, "Wait. When did we see Spencer?"

"It wasn't that long ago," Emily replied, "It was when we all met up, wasn't that Spencer's year anniversary."

"God, I wish we just had a clock in this stupid place," Hanna moaned, "Has anyone been keep track of how many sleeps we have had?"

"Been on the sleeping pills," Emily admitted.

"Same," Aria answered with an ashamed look on her face, "It just makes it easier."

"Aria even you," Hanna looked shocked, "I thought you would never start taking them."

"It's the silence," Aria put her hands up to her ears, "I can't deal with it, but in my dreams, I can hear, it's more normal."

"Wait you can hear in your dreams," Hanna questioned confused on how that would work.

"I only recently became deaf remember, I haven't forgotten what things sound like," Aria explained, "well some of it is muffled, it's unclear. It's like I'm forgetting but it's less lonely."

"We are getting off topic," Hanna declared, "How long has it been?"

"Three weeks?" Emily suggested.

"That long?" Hanna exclaimed, "How has it been three weeks. How have I not seen you guys for three weeks?

"I suggested three weeks. It might only have been two," Emily replied.

"That's still too long," Hanna alleged, "How is it becoming so normal not see you guys for that long, and where the hell is Spencer.

Spencer sat on the floor of her new room, she remembered it with horror from her time there when she had first she had been dragged into the dollhouse. The blood stains were still faintly there but it had been covered up with the ragged bedsheets that softened the floor slightly from where Spencer had to sleep on it.

The room was darker than her last prison cell, with the single light that hang from the middle of the room lighting it up as much as possible. The hatch on the door was half open and figures had been appearing regularly throughout the day to peer through it.

Spencer rubbed her hand against her neck, it felt so raw from where the collar had been half chocking her since she had heard Aria's screams after seeing Mona's body. The day felt so far away from the point she was at now, it felt like she had been trapped down in the dollhouse for a lifetime.

As Spencer continued to sit on the floor in silence a figure appeared at the door causing Spencer to bolt upright. The door opened revealing the figure in full uniform carrying a tray of food.

"Food time," the figure demanded, "Time to eat now."

The food on the plate could be compared to slop, Spencer had been dealing with the terrible taste for the past month but she knew she had no choice but to eat it. One week in she had decided that she wouldn't eat the gruel and poured it on the floor behind the door where she thought that A wouldn't check, but after the smell had got worse it had been noticed.

From that point forward Spencer had enjoyed being watched as she ate by one of the A team, she could tell that after the ten-minute mark annoyance would start to rise and depending on who it was on duty it would lead to threats of what was to come if she didn't start eating or physical harm.

Spencer could differentiate who was who at this point, the figures seemed familiar like she knew them. There was three of them that visited her, from her experience throughout the year she knew there were four members of the A team, but for some reason one of them never showed up.

The first figure was always kind of someone that was torturing her at least, they seemed to care the most about her eating and always stayed until Spencer had finished eating. Spencer was mostly sure they were a female from their body shape. Compared to the others she was the most friendly and gave small updates on the other girls is she behaved well enough.

The second who she was pretty sure was a male was much more violent, he was the one that she would scoff done her meal as quickly as possible. Last time she had been too slow her wrist had been bruised for over a week where he had decided to break it unless she finished up faster.

The third figure was also a male, he was the one that threated to use force-feeding if she didn't eat. She was pretty sure he was the one with the medical expertise from her experience with him before and was certain that if he got too fed up she would end up strapped down in a hospital bed again.

Spencer was glad that it was the first figure to enter her room, cautiously she took the tray and started to eat its contents stopping every couple of mouthfuls to wash it down with some water.

"How are the others," Spencer asked between mouthfuls.

"They have been let out, they were looking for you." The figure replied with their blunt tone.

Spencer continued eating before asking her next question, "When will I be able to see them."

The figure didn't answer, just pointed to the rest of the slop on the tray, "eat."

"Will it be soon?" Spencer queried as she braced herself for any potential anger.

"Just eat," the figured replied.

As Spencer finished eating the figure took the tray and shut the door behind her. As she quickly looked through the hatch Spencer closed her hand which had been holding a set of pills that she had just been given.

"Just one more night, I can stop," Spencer promised herself, "I need this, it won't be like last time. It won't."


	61. Chapter 61

"Spencer!" Hanna yelled after stopping the brunette for the first time in months. Spencer's room had been left empty and the girl had never returned, it had been 3 months since the girls had realised she had gone.

The brunette turned around as Hanna could see the state of her, surprisingly she seemed healthy. Hanna couldn't understand she had been missing for 3 months but she looked the best she had since she had first been dragged down to the dollhouse. Spencer saw the reaction on the blonde's face as a smile crossed her face.

"Hanna," her smile grew as she rushed towards her friend and embraced her in a hug, "I've missed you."

Hanna stayed quiet for a moment as she took in the moment and the relief that her friend was ok, "wait, you're real, right?"

Spencer laughed before looking into the blonde's eyes realised she meant it, "Yes of course I'm real. Why? Are you having hallucinations?

"Just pinch me please," Hanna begged, "So I know it's really you. This doesn't feel real. You seem to… to healthy."

Spencer looked down at herself before comparing her visuals with that of Hanna's, "I suppose I am, weight wise at least," pitching her friend on her arm she raised her hands in defence, "You said to pinch you."

"Not that hard Spence, but you're real. You are actually real, wait till I tell the other's," Hanna felt some of the darkness in her life depart slightly, "Where have you been?"

"The dark room," Spencer spoke waiting for the immediate negative reactions.

Hanna's eyes looked bewildered, nothing every good happened there, "What did they do to you?" Hanna whispered quietly, "How bad are the wounds."

The girl kept looking at Spencer up and down as she couldn't see any new scars on her body, her bones were all in one piece and her skin was still smooth to the touch around her wrists.

"Nothing happened," Spencer started to explain, "A just moved me, makes sure I eat. They were worried I think as I just stopped eating after…"

"Mona," Hanna mouthed as the other girl just nodded, "Still nothing?"

Spencer looked solemn as she looked the girl in the eyes, "Nothing. They, the A team visited me a lot, well 3 of them at least. They are all so different."

"Different how?" Hanna queried scared Spencer had started to feel at home.

"Two of them, they are rough. If I don't eat that is," Spencer paused before lifting her t-shirt partly to reveal a large bruised area, Hanna gasped before Spencer let the fabric fall back down.

"One of them did that, they turn to violence while the other turns to threats," Spencer continued.

Hanna's eyes started to tear up as she realised that the brunette hadn't got off as easily as she had first thought.

"Han, It's fine," Spencer tried to reassure the girl, "The 3rd one, she's the best."

"She?" Hanna questioned as she tried to wipe away the water that was building up in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure she is a she, she waits. Kinder then the others," Spencer explained, "She sometimes tells me how you guys are doing. So, I know you are alright, you are alright? She wasn't lying, was she?"

"No, things have been pretty quiet since Christmas, being let out like once a week. Not starving," Hanna paused, "Although my room is still covered in coal and I have nothing to do but I have got very good at sign language."

"That's good," Spencer sounded relieved, "They aren't letting me back to my old room."

"Why?" Hanna said, "They are keeping you in that room, where… stuff happened."

"I heard them talking," Spencer explained, "That if I go back in there I won't every stop crying. With the dark room, there's less attachment. More likely that I will forget, or the pain with lessen."

"But it isn't working, is it?" Hanna whispered.

"No, I still cry myself to sleep. I can't stop thinking about her, I just want her to be alright. And since our Mona died in the room I'm locked in I'm not sure if It's also just a message that she is dead."

Just as Hanna was about to invite her friend to the games room the Speaker announced its self-overhead, "Please return to your rooms."

"I'll see you soon, hopefully," Hanna spoke as she hugged her friend tightly, "Please don't let it be this long before I see you again."

"I hope not," Spencer replied before she broke the hug and started walking in the opposite direction to the blonde.

* * *

Two weeks passed before some of the group met up again.

"Spencer's alive," Hanna almost shouted as she left her room to meet the others. Emily's face lit up at the news as Hanna tried to sign it out amongst the excitement of the swimmer. Aria's beamed as she understood what was happening, her friend was safe. She carried on looking her two friends as a look of confusion crossed their faces at the same time much to the annoyance of Aria.

Happy Birthday was being blasted out of the speakers as Hanna and Emily both looked at each other.

"It's Aria's Birthday, "Emily mouthed before realising the girl wouldn't be able to hear her anyway.

Hanna quickly looked over to Aria before looking back, "I suppose it has to be. Mine and Spencer's was ages ago and for some reason I don't think it's nearly Christmas."

"Guy," Aria spoke out annoyed at the secrecy, she had been trying to read what the other had been saying but had been having difficulty as they weren't facing her and was talking too quickly, "What's happening? Speak to me you know I can't hear."

Emily turned to the annoyed girl before pausing then signing, "your birthday today."

Aria looked taken aback, "It can't be."

"It's the only one that makes sense," Hanna added in.

"Are you sure A isn't just messing with us," Aria questioned.

"It seems like about the right time," Emily admitted.

"I can't be 19," Aria stuttered, "I can't. I can't be wasting this years of my life stuck down here."

"Wow," Emily thought for a moment, "I hadn't even thought of that, we are all 19. A's stealing the end of our teenage years."

"We should have finished school and gone on to college," Hanna muttered, "This is depressing."

"Maybe there's cake at least," Emily tried to cheer up the group, "Maybe it's in the kitchen, or the games room. Hanna can you…?"

"Sure, be right back," Hanna spoke before checking the rooms along the corridor, "It's in here," Hanna rushed back before signing to Aria, "Come on Birthday girl."

* * *

Time passed again and the days outside grew warmer. There had been no more sign of Spencer since her last appearance.

Emily lay on her bed as she pressed her recently finished book against her chest and let out a sigh. Since receiving it for Christmas Emily had read War and Peace three times. It had helped that the book was over 1000 pages long but it still didn't fill up enough of her time.

As Emily breathed in she noticed the smell that was entering the room, gas. Getting up from her bed she saw the gas coming quickly through the vents, if previous estimates where correct she would start to feel drowsy soon but there was nothing she could do about it. Placing the book on her bedside table she waited for the gas to finally encapsulate her and take her to the land of Nod.

As Emily woke up she felt her head was racing, the ground before her was soft like a blanket. The world seemed too bright.

As Emily waited not willing to open her eyes she heard a muffling noise from next to her, "Hanna?" she called out waiting to see if it was the blonde or it was Aria and she just couldn't hear her.

"Emily?" an unexpected voice responded.

Emily opened her eyes as the blaring light entered them, the air around her was warm.

"Careful," the voice continued, "You have been out for a while."

"Where are we?" Emily asked as she focused on the voice.

"Outside," The voice stated as Emily's heart felt like it missed a beat.

Opening her eyes once again they adjusted to the girl that was sitting a metre or so away from her next to two of her sleeping friends, "Spencer."

Spencer paused for a moment as she let her friend get her grips, "Are you ok?"

"Am I dreaming?" Emily asked as she looked beyond at the trees and the sky.

"No," Spencer quickly replied, "Since you asked me if this is a dream chances are I'm not dreaming which means this is real."

"We escaped?!" Emily had a sudden realise that she wasn't trapped underground anymore.

"Not quite," Spencer responded seeing the quick smile disappear from her friends face as she held up the chains from her foot that was attached to a metal loop held in the ground.

"Not quite," Spencer responded seeing the quick smile disappear from her friends face as she held up the chains from her foot that was attached to a metal loop held in the ground, "call this been allowed out. It's quite a pretty day."

"I think I would be happy even if it was raining to be outside," Emily replied.

As the two girls continued talking both aria and Hanna woke up, each extremely happy to see their friend.

"Why all we here?" Aria asked slightly panicked as she was the last one to wake up.

"I presume it's because the body needs sunlight," Spencer started to explain before being cut off by Emily.

"She can't hear you, you need to sign," Emily explained.

"I don't know how" Spencer looked worried, "I haven't been practising. Could you possibly sign what I'm saying for me?"

"sure", Emily reluctantly agreed, "but you need to start learning also of."

"OK, so as I was saying," Spencer continued as Emily signed along, "the human body needs a certain amount of sunlight to reduce stuff like depression which I think we all suffering from, as well as other processes to keep us healthy. I wouldn't be surprised if we've been taken up here before, probably unconscious."

"This is where A took me on Halloween," Aria spoke quietly, afraid of her surroundings, "where I tried to run but A stopped me. There's no way out even if we weren't chained to the ground, the fence that surrounds this place is electric. When they did find me, it's where I lost my hearing."

"Oh god Aria," Hanna exclaimed, "is there anything we can do to try and distract you."

"Just keep talking," Aria replied, "How long do you think A is going to leave us out here alone for."

"I doubt we are actually alone," Emily added, "I bet they are watching us from somewhere, but it is nice not to have an obvious camera, pointing and watching our every move."

The girls kept talking until a hooded figure could be seen emerging from the woods.

"Guys," Emily pointed towards the direction, "We are not alone."

"Do you think they've come to take us inside," Hanna questioned.

"It's the violent one," Spencer suddenly realised.

"How can you tell?" Emily asked a look of panic in her eye.

"Body dimensions and how they walk," Spencer replied, "Don't resist guys, you don't want to get hurt."

As the figure grew closer the collar started to grow in power until the figure was within talking distance.

"Get on the ground, hands above your head," the figure commanded.

Spencer immediately obeyed, while Aria looked at the girl with confusion.

"I said get on the ground," The figure shouted again.

Hanna was next to follow the instructions, the shock through her next was starting to get painful. Aria saw what the two girls were doing and quickly followed suit the pain nearly raising to be unbearable.

"Get on the ground or I raise the voltage more," The figure shouted out.

"Emily, get on the damn floor," Spencer commanded, "these freaking hurt."

"Sorry," Emily mumbled as she rested herself against the blanket that was covering the grass.

Emily could hear the figure getting closer and closer before she felt the weight of them on her back, it was obvious she would be the first one to be returned since she was the only one that could fight back even if she wouldn't be able to run.

Unable to do anything under the weight Emily body tensed up as a needle was jabbed into her arm and she felt the liquid running through her body sending her world into darkness.

* * *

Over the next few months, the girls were let out semi-regularly, not very often altogether or for very long. More Birthdays passed as well as Christmas and the New year. The girls had been stuck down there for over two years, all hope had gone any chance of rescue. All they had left was each other.


	62. Chapter 62

The police department was on high alert, a new signal had just formed in a wooded area close to Rosewood that followed the encryption that had been used to send the police the first dollhouse video that had been used to clear Alison of her charges. All of the force had been reassigned temporally to the one case if this was their only chance to get the girls back they were not going to mess it up.

Getting out all the tactical gear the group had no idea of what they would be walking into if they would find themselves in the lair of the mysterious A who had invaded their capture all this time or if they were being teased and it would lead to nothing but an empty field.

* * *

"You shouldn't have done this," An angry voice shouted across the room, the hooded figure was joined by 2 other figures standing slightly behind them. Their arms crossed in a menacing way.

"I Can't do this anymore," A voice from the other side of the room hastily replied, "I can't keep torturing her and her friends. I can't do this for another of her birthdays. I am taking her with me."

"You ruined everything!" The first figure shouted back, "I swear to God Ezra, this is the last straw. You aren't going to take her."

"The hell I am," The figure shouted back, their hand roughly holding the material of the petite brunette's shirt as she stood in front of the man shaking violently in fear unable to understand what was happening. For Aria is just seemed like she was surrounded, after being forcefully taken from her room and dragged away to what seemed like her demise. Should couldn't hear what was being said, but the actions of those in front of her seemed angry, and to her that could only mean the anger was about to be taken out of her.

"The CCTV is out so if I was you I would get the other girls before the police arrive because believe me, they are coming," Ezra warned.

"You two go," The first voice commanded, "I will finish this business."

With that, the other two members of the A team hurriedly left the room, one heading towards the girl's facilities while the smaller one towards their main operations room.

"So, what am I going to do with you," The first voice spoke in a threatening tone as they reached to their side where on the table a selection of weapons had been left out for cleaning including a pistol and a single bullet, "Only one bullet, better not miss then I suppose. Let Aria go."

"No, I am getting out of here and she is coming with me," Ezra shouted across the room as he clutched the girl closer to his body, holding her tightly and using her as a shield. After all, he knew she wouldn't shoot her, she was cold but she wasn't going to kill off the girls.

The hooded figure raised their gun as Aria tried to squirm out of her torturer's hand. She wasn't going to let herself be shot and killed. She felt like she had just been led to a slaughterhouse and she was the cattle, this was why she was a vegetarian. As she squirmed more her kidnapped just tightened their grip until she felt like if she tried anymore she wouldn't be able to breathe. She had to accept her fate, she wasn't going to get out of this mess and she was never going to see her friends again.

* * *

"Stupid freaking Ezra," The smaller hooded figure muttered as they set to work at the command centre trying to get the image of the cameras back up, "I knew he shouldn't have been trusted. After Arias deafening experience I knew it would only be a matter of time before he broke. He loves her too much in his sickening way. I suppose the police might have found us sooner though if he wasn't on the outside ruining the police information."

The figure continued to press dials and buttons until they knew their efforts would be futile there was no way of getting the CCTV back up running in time to find the girls, they were going to have to find them blind. The only advantage they knew they had was the shock collars and the sleeping gas, to overpower the girls by themselves they knew they would have to use it all to their advantage.

The smaller figure held onto a remote that controlled the collars from their pocket clutching it tightly while they released the gas into the living quarters for the girls. The built-in gas masks in their uniform would stop the gas affecting the A team but it would take some time to incapacitate the girl's something that the team did not have enough of.

After the gas had been released the figure picked up a loaded gun, if the gas hadn't managed to knock out Emily yet then they needed something to defend themselves against the furious swimmer.

* * *

Hanna began to panic, she hadn't been let out in days and now her room was beginning to fill with knockout gas. Every time she had been exposed something awful always seemed to happen most of the time and Hanna dreaded what was about to happen next.

There had only been a few times Hanna could remember that the gas led to something positive or even neutral, like when the group was let outside or her bathroom had been cleaned or the bedsheets had been changed.

The rest of the time gas meant beatings where on their way, that A wanted to be able to move her quickly and easily without her fighting back, the medical appointments where she found herself lying barely clothed on the medical bed with needles sticking in her arm and blood being drained from her body or where her hands where strapped down and she was made to listen to the cries of her family and friends that missed her.

Today was no exception as her shock collar zapped to life, the highest setting Hanna had been pained to experience for over a year radiated through her body causing a blood-curdling scream to erupt from her lungs as the rest of her body felt unable to move. Unable to help herself the blonde dropped to the ground harshly unable to stop herself from bucklering under her own feet and landing harshly on her right arm.

Hanna could feel herself about to pass out as she heard the electric buzz of her door stop before the door flung open with Emily standing firmly at the frame.

"Hanna," Emily shrieked as she hobbled over as fast as she could, she was starting to feel light headed as she bent down next to her friend. She knew how to take of the source of her friend pain but up to that point even though she had desperately wanted to the alternative seemed a far worse fate.

Giving into her worry she reached to the back of Hanna's neck where the collar hanged of her, she could fill the electrical pain as her hands started to fumble with its parts as she tried to disable it. After a couple of attempts of searing shots of pain, Emily managed to do the sequence which broke the circuit. Removing the collar as quickly as possible from the nearly passed out girl she saw the damage it had caused and the very visible marks it had left behind.

* * *

Spencer like Hanna screamed in pain as the shock collars where enabled, but unlike the blonde, the Hasting was already on the floor from where she had been left chained up after the aggressive A member had decided that she hadn't been eating quickly enough and in turn needed to be punished.

The door had been left open tauntingly and the light that normally illuminated the room had been turned off so only the room from the outside corridor streamed through to give Spencer something to focus on.

As Spencer felt like she couldn't handle the pain anymore she heard heavy footstep followed by the figure that she recognised as the worst of them.

"Oh god," Spencer thought to herself, "He has come back for more."


	63. Chapter 63

"The signal came from here, so spread out in teams we need to find some sort of entrance'" the police chief commanded as he set his officers to work, "radio in if you get anything."

"That fence was electric," Toby pointed out to one of his colleagues, "either they were not expecting us or someone in there tipped them off."

"Let's just hope its the first," another officer replied to him.

"Come on," Toby ordered, "we will follow the parameter there must be so clues somewhere."

* * *

They are coming," Ezra warned as he held Aria tight against him, "They are going to find you."

"They will find you too," the figure spat back.

"Even if you are right," Ezra continued, "They will find me with a gun aimed at me and with none of the girls actually knowing it was me they won't have all the information."

"What about your little girlfriend there," the figure replied, "the police will believe her side of the story."

Ezra laughed as he watched the gun stay steady in her old allies hand, "she can't hear. She doesn't know what is happening here. Who do you think she will side with, her old love who she wasn't sure if you killed or she hallucinated or the person holding the gun to her chest."

"I always thought that was quite clever of you," the figure complimented with their monotone voice, "make her think you died, make it so real that she questioned everything that happened. Ruined her trust in her own mind, and I know even though you didn't mean to deafen her I bet your glad about that now. I know you cried for days after that mistake of yours."

"Just put down the gun," Ezra warned, "Its too late now"

"No it's not," the figure raised their voice before a loud boom went off in the bunker."

* * *

The police force stood still as the shot could be heard, all officers on high alert waiting to see who the shots had come from. A group had found the unlocked entrance and the parameter had been secured.

After some muttering over the intercom checking all the groups were still fine the chief made an executive decision, "Converge on that sound. Weapons up, that might have been a warning shot."

In tactical gear, the group entered the building, everyone in defensive position unsure of what they would find.

Loud footsteps of someone running could be heard as the figure turned the corner, empty gun still in hand, completely outnumbered.

"Get on the floor now," A booming voice at the front of the pack commanded giving anyone in the close facility an idea that they were no longer alone.

The figure stood their not scared but as they saw the determination in the officer's eyes to finally find the girls they knew time had run out and the only way out not in a body bag was to comply.

The figure got down on their knees slowly as the gun reached the floor they pushed it over. Acting as slowly as possible to give the others the time needed to escape while her victim the chance to bleed out.

"Hands on your head where we can see them," the officer commanded again.

As the officers could see it was safe to processed, the figure was held down as cuffs where placed on their hands. As the rest of the group continued in front converging once again from where the sound had come from.

As the figure was forced to stay on the floor the officer's hand reached down to remove their mask which had protected their identity up to that point. Shocked the officer couldn't speak for a few moments before muttering the A team members name in complete surprise and horror, "Melissa Hastings."

* * *

We need medical in here now," A panicked voice over the intercom rang.

Toby fearful of what was happening couldn't keep working their parameter any longer. His chief had wanted him to go into whatever they found as they knew his priorities would be skewed and his judgement wouldn't be as clear but he couldn't take the unknown for another second.

"Keep a lock on the parameter," Toby commanded his team as he got into a sprint running across the fields and into the bunker. He would to occupied with the fate of possibly his friend needing medical then he was by the figure who was now being brought out, her head held down in shame of being caught. No remorse for what she had done.

As Toby entered the room he saw the blood, but instead of the one person, he expected he was created by two figures who was lying on the floor surrounded by the medical teams who were shouting commands to each other.

"They are not breathing."

"Completely unresponsive."

"CPR isn't working."

"Save the other one."

The words hit Toby hard as the medical staff moved revealing the face of his friend.

"The bullet wound passed right through for her," the medical responder informed their new workers, "We need to get her out of here."

"Ambulance is outside," the officer stationed with the medical team informed, "The stretcher is coming in now."

Toby got pushed past as the petites body was carefully loaded up, the girl's eyes terrified.

"It's going to be ok," one of the voices tried to comfort her, "we are getting you out of here to the hospital. You are going to be fine. Keep your eyes open for us, we know it's going to start to feel very exhausting but keep them open."

Toby watched on shocked at the state of the girl as she was carried towards the light of the bunkers entrance. To freedom, something she hadn't had for a very long time.

* * *

The smaller of the A team now matched with a gun headed with determination, they had to get to Hanna and Emily to get them out of there before the police could swoop in and save them.

Looking back quickly the figure had heard the gunshot, and presuming it had come from Melissa's way knew she had to hurry up.

Mellissa had given them everything they had wanted in life so following her last commanded was still on highest priority. If she had thought that they could get to the girls as well as have enough time to escape then they had to trust her judgment. She had been the one that had offered the deal of revenge in the first place.

Turning down each corridor The figure saw all the doors no longer locked closed. "Great," the figure muttered as they continued to hold their gun up as they drew nearer to the girls rooms.

* * *

"Please, please, please, I'll be good," Spencer begged as the violent figure grew nearer, the pain still radiating through her body from the shock collar.

"Keep quiet," the figure commanded quieter than normal, "Show me your chain."

"Please turn it off," Spencer continued to beg not seeing the gun that was protruding out of her kidnappers pocket.

As the figure reached into their other pocket, to reveal their keys and the toggle to turn off the now burning collar, Spencer saw the end of the gun and decided to stay quiet as they came towards her.

Once the collar was switched off the figure bent down to unlock the brunettes chained feet. Spencer took her chance as she reached forward to try and grab the gun. Failing as the figure caught her hand.

"What do you think you were doing," The figure furiously shouted before Spencer's face was met with the end of a leather handed punch, "Get up."

Spencer did as she was told, every single movement causing searing pain.

"Move," the figure commanded as Spencer was pushed forward towards the open door.

* * *

"Get her to the hospital now," the chief commanded as he saw Aria being wheeled into the ambulance.

"Stay with me Aria," the medical officer spoke to the frightened girl, "Don't move sweetie, we don't want to make it worse."

Aria stared back still with fear in her eyes, she couldn't understand. She felt the pain where the bullet had hit her and then the eyes that now faced her were unknown but yet felt more trusting then she would have expected. Arias' eye's felt heavy as she wanted to close them.

"Keep your eyes open darling," the medical officer asked as she squeezed her closed off hand, "don't close your eyes."

The ambulance sirens started to wail as they left the dollhouse behind.

"You said two down," the chief asked one of his officers who had come out with them, "what has happened to the other one "

"I'm sorry Sir we couldn't get there in time for him," the officer apologised.

"Him?" The chief questioned confused expecting the other victim to be one of the other missing girls.

"Ezra Fitz," the officer responded as the chief fell into a shocked silence.


	64. Chapter 64

"Hanna, are you ok?" Emily whispered to her friend who was on the floor still recovering from the shock collar. Even after it had been removed the pain that she had experienced still stayed with her.

Hanna groaned unable to get any full sentences out. The girls were feeling to be quite light-headed from the gas that was surrounding them in their room, Emily looked into the pain of her friend's eyes as she heard noise coming from down the corridor of their room.

"Stay here," Emily whispered as she staggered herself up and positioned herself behind the door of the blonde's room ready to pounce on whoever may enter.

As Emily stood there feeling weaker and weaker by the second she heard the footsteps getting louder and louder. Her adrenaline spiked as she could hear breathing from behind the door as she held the pink furry lamp that originally stood on Hanna's bedside table. It was filthy in comparison to its outside counterpart but Emily still suspected she could get a good swing off it.

Out of the corner of her eye as she saw the end of a gun pointing downwards at her friend as the door swung open, trying not to breathe Emily could feel her heart racing as she heard the monotone worried muttering as the figure realised the blondes collar lay no longer on her neck, "That stupid Emily, must have shown the others how to take it off. There's no chance to take both now. Emily's chains will just slow me down, it's better if I leave nothing to speak to the cops."

The figure turned her back to Hanna, certain that the girl had been consumed to the darkness from the gas and processed to cautiously walk towards the swimmer's room, gun raised ready to fire.

Afraid to even more as the clunking of her chains would give away her position Emily stood still as she assessed all the possibilities. At the end of the day, she knew there was only one option that would lead to her friend getting out of their alive and give her a smaller chance of her joining her.

Moving as quickly as her chains allowed her too, moving around to door still clutching the lamp she saw her kidnapper notice the noise and turn around, gun turning towards her as Emily swung the lamp towards the gun to hope to knock it out of hand, although not before the first shot was fired.

Spencer heard as the sound of a gunshot stopped her kidnapper in their tracks, taking in a sharp breath Spencer held onto it like it was the last breath she would ever take.

"Keep moving," the figure ordered as they started to push the girl more forward from where they had stopped.

"Who was that," Spencer let out her breath as she was shoved forward.

"We must of have finally got rid of her," the figure muttered lying through their teeth.

"Who?" Spencer questioned panicking as she realised they must have meant one of her friends was just shot.

"She was just so annoying, crying all the time. Saves the space I suppose we won't need to build another nursery," the figure continued to lie, Spencer falling for every word spoken.

"Mona," Spencer uttered the words that she feared would never have to be said with the connotation of death again, "You."

Spencer couldn't continue as it felt like she couldn't breathe, her whole body felt like it was shutting down. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't bring herself to continue to stand up as she continuously pushed forward.

"Be quiet and keep moving," the figure ordered, "Or all your friends will end up in the same grave too."

Spencer had no doubt that her kidnapper would keep true to their violent words, since arriving at the dollhouse she had lost her own will to live, but she couldn't be responsible for the death of her friends so she did as she was told and kept moving forward. The only thing that screamed on her mind was Mona.

Emily flinched as she heard the gun go off, as she knocked the gun from her kidnapper's hand and it flew across the corridor. Both people looking at each other with fear of the situation.

Emily looked down, no blood. The bullet had missed her and the girl was positive if she wasn't the next person to grab the gun the next bullet would be landing in her head.

Diving with as much force as possible Emily skidded herself across the floor. The ground wasn't as smooth as she had hoped and the swimmer could feel the burning as the friction between her and the floor tore at her skin. There was no chance that trying to run for the gun would have worked, the small steps that she could do would have made her lose the race but the propulsion she had learnt from pushing of during diving gave her the advantage.

Emily ignored the pain, it was limited due to the adrenaline that was rushing through her body. Of her Reaching out she could feel the metal handle as she tried to pull the gun closer. Watching the gun intently she saw the foot of her kidnapper crunch down of her arm as couldn't stop even through the pain.

Gripping the gun, she attempted to aim it towards her target as the gun was fired once again. Missing but causing enough of a shock for her kidnapper to startle backwards.

Using all her energy Emily shoved herself off the ground as she continued to point the gun at the now frightened figure.

"Get on the ground now," Emily ordered not used to finally being in a position of power.

The figure did as they were told and Emily tried to keep herself up.

"You'll regret this," the figure muttered as the gun was fixed onto their head.

Emily heard loud footsteps coming up behind her.

"Get away or I will shoot," Emily shouted out scared of what she presumed where the other A members coming.

"Get away from them and put the gun down," one of the people who the footsteps belonged too ordered.

Emily kept the gun trained onto the figures head still, from the mixture of adrenaline, sleeping gas and fear she felt like she couldn't move or it would be the end of her story. The gun was her only leverage in her situation.

Glancing around Emily couldn't see who the footstep figures were as light shone in her face blocking any information.

"Put the gun down Emily," the footsteps ordered as Emily felt more on edge.

"Emmy it's me," another voice called out, one that Emily recognised.

"Dad?" Emily said her voice quivering almost not believing that she was safe.

"Sweetie put the gun down," Mr Fields spoke his voice soft and caring, "I'm right here."

Emily backed up towards her father before bending down to put down the gun, as she did so she felt the wave of exhaustion sweeping in as she felt herself being caught before she hit the floor again.

"Hanna," Emily blurted out as she felt herself being supported," Help me please."

Brushing past the officers who had now surrounded her kidnapper she fell to her knees at her knocked out friend.

"Please wake up Hanna," Emily begged, "Please."

"We need medical down here now," one of the officers spoke on his radio, "We found two of them, they are not in good states."

Seeing that her friend was now safe Emily turned back to her kidnapper who was now in cuffs, their mask being taken off their face.

"Jenna?!" Emily gasped as she saw the gleaming green eyes lock with her own, "how, but you're blind."

"When the devil offers to bring your sight back you tend to do her bidding," Jenna spat as she thrashed out against the officers that were holding her equally shocked, "And when she drags you girls down to hell it's hard to walk away."

"Get her out of here," Mr Fields ordered as he tried to protect his daughter, "Why is this room full of coal?"

"It's… It's just Hanna's room," Emily stuttered trying to get her words out in her shock," Hanna, is she going to be alright."

"She's breathing, the paramedic is on their way down," Wayne informed her.

"Good," Emily breathed out as all the energy left her body and she collapsed to the floor too.


	65. Chapter 65

"Where are we going," Spencer managed to utter with the little energy she had remaining. Despite spending 2 years down in the dollhouse she had not been in the narrow corridor that she was now being pushed down.

"I said keep quiet," the figure snarled back, "and keep moving, or I'll go back and leave a bullet in your friends' heads."

Spencer tried to turn to see the figure who was still walking hurriedly behind her but as she did she was pushed forward.

Having never seen her kidnapper behave like this before she knew something big would have had to happen. Then it struck her, what the figure had said, "build another nursery." It had to be they had been discovered, that meant the police were going to come but maybe not in time for her. If there was any chance of being found Spencer knew she needed to slow down so she could be caught up with.

With her limiting options Spencer decided to trip, trying to catch one foot behind the other caused her to be unsteady on her feet and with the figure keeping up fast behind her it was easy enough for her to fall to the ground unsuspecting of any foul play.

"Get up," the figure commanded, as Spencer expected not as loud as normal.

Spencer paused as long as she could as she winced in pain as she realized she had actually managed to scrape up her knee.

"Please just slow down, it hurts," Spencer begged as she remained on her hands and knees from where she had fallen.

Spencer could hear a huff of annoyance before she found herself being pushed further towards the ground as the figures foot met her lower back with a loud thud.

"I needed this for the journey to make sure it lasted but I think you left me with no choice," Spencer heard in her pain as the soul of a boot kept her pinned to the ground, "You are a pretty good kisser but your sister was right about you."

Spencer felt herself feel weak as a needle was once again stabbed into her arm and the liquid flow through her body.

"Sleep tight Spencer," the figure continued, "Everything is going to be alright."

Toby joined the paramedic team to where both Hanna and Emily had collapsed on the floor. They both didn't look in very good shape and the medical team was keen to get them out as quickly as possible without hurting them.

"Em," Toby dashed to the floor happy to see his friend after all that time, "Em."

Emily moaned in response hazily, her head now resting on her father's lap as he looked down at his daughter.

"What happened?" Toby asked directing is a Wayne.

"She's fine," Mr. Fields responded, "She collapsed from exhaustion and her wrist seems to be broken."

"Em," Toby tried to get the swimmer's attention, "Do you know where Spencer is? We can't find her."

"Dark room," Emily mumbled before falling back asleep again.

"Do you know how the other one is doing?" Wayne asked knowing his daughter would worry about the others as soon as she woke up.

"She got to an ambulance, but she is in bad shape," Toby explained, "I need to go. I need to find Spencer."

* * *

As Spencer woke up everything was dark, the air around her felt warm, much warmer than it had been in her room in the dollhouse. Trying to lift her head it was met with a loud thud as it hit the ceiling.

Slightly still disorientated Spencer reached her hand out in front of her from where she had been thrown her back resting against a wall behind. Her hand reached the other side.

"Great," Spencer thought, "I'm trapped in a dark box."

As her hearing started to return Spencer could hear the hum of a vehicle surrounding her, followed by her body being thrown up in the air before crashing down. Spencer knew what had happened, the dollhouse had been found, she had been moved and because she wasn't moving fast enough she had been drugged and dragged to the getaway vehicle which meant she was outside.

With the limited space as Spencer disposal, she tried moving around in the dark attempting to see if there was a way out of her situation. Upon realizing that she had been locked in a truck Spencer ran her fingers along the wall containing the opening of the door hoping there was some way to open it from the inside.

Spencer let out a sigh of relief as she found the inside latch that would save her from the hell she had found herself in.

Judging from the sound of the vehicle it didn't seem like they were going too fast, since Spencer hadn't made much noise she doubted that her kidnapper had noticed that she had woken up and was about to make her escape.

Pressing on the boot's latch she watched as the lid slowly opened, light poured in from what seemed to be either from a sunset or sunrise. Spencer looked down at the road moving before her, it seemed much faster then she had expected.

Spencer looked down laughingly as she took in a breath ready to try and get out of the car without hurting herself too much.

As the brunette was about to make her move she was thrown backwards as the brakes where hit, Spencer knew she had to run now. She had either arrived at her destination where she would never be seen again or they had seen her attempt to escape.

Clambering over the boot's ledge Spencer felt the ground beneath her feet, it might have been a road but it felt good to be outside again.

With both feet on the ground Spencer started to run as fast as she could, the adrenalin kicked in as Spencer headed towards the roadside where there was a forest that could protect her and allow her to escape amongst it.

Her heart pounding Spencer could hear the door of the car opening up as the figure stepped out. With the ground below her full of twigs, stones and wet mud Spencer feet hurt but she couldn't stop until she was safe.

Spencer dared not to look back as she continued to run before letting out a blood-curdling scream that seemed to echo through the forest as her collar, which she had forgotten about in her last-ditch attempt, turned on to reveal its highest setting that she had experienced.

Collapsing unable to move Spencer continued to wail as the figure grew nearer and nearer. The damp floor soaked through the brunet's clothes as she felt completely drained. As the pain stopped she felt herself being yanked up by the back of her collar as it momentarily strangled her causing Spencer to gasp for air.

"How dare you," the figure shouted. It was clear that they were too far from anyone to be able to hear the racket or her kidnapper was so angry that they had stopped, "I should have just left you and gotten away. Why did I have to listen to your sister, she was the whole damn reason I'm a part of this anyway."

"Melissa," Spencer through still gasping got air as she felt herself being pulled helplessly through the forest, "no. This can't have been her, they are just trying to get into my head again."

As they reached the vehicle again Spencer expected to be shoved in the boot again but it seemed like her kidnapper had learned their lesson on that one. Spencer looked up at the car as the figure opened the back door, the windows were blacked out and the seats had plenty of leg room as Spencer found as she was shoved into the space face down.

Climbing up on the seats on top of her the figure roughly grasped Spencer's wrists cuffing them together behind her back, Spencer felt the same happing to her ankles.

"Are you going to be quiet for me?" the figure asked menacingly as they bent down to whisper in Spencer's ear.

"Screw you," Spencer spat back.

"Take that as a no then," the figure responded as they stuffed a cloth into the brunet's mouth to soften the noise, "We are nearly there don't worry, but the harder you make this for me the worse I will make it for you later."

Slamming the passenger door shut Spencer heard as they open their own before getting back into the driver's seat locking all the doors as they started the engine and continued to drive along the road.

* * *

The figure turned up the radio as they continued to drive, it was voiced. It took Spencer a minute to realize that they were listening in to the police communications.

"We have 3 in custody but there is still one left. Hasting is still missing," the radio spoke as the figure bashed their fists against the steering wheel.

"What am I going to do with you know," the figure angrily exclaimed, "They are going to rat me out, your good for nothing sister."

"Sister," Spencer tried to say as she was muffled.

"I've never met someone that hates their own blood like she does," the figure continued, "I need to get out of here and I don't think I can take you with me. I really didn't want to kill you but I don't think I have much choice now."

Spencer squealed in shock as her kidnapper weighed up their options of if they should end her life.

"or I could just leave you at the cabin, limited food their you might survive before someone finds you," the figure continued, "What do you think Spencer? Complete silence for the rest of the journey if you want to live alright and at the end, I'll tell you a little secret."

Spencer didn't speak for the rest of the journey, she didn't need to instead she spent the whole time thinking of what the figure had said, was it really true that her own sister had done this to her.

* * *

The brunets brain was still whirling as the car pulled up.

"End of the line," the figure spoke their hands still placed on the steering wheels, "and I suppose, a deal is a deal. I need to be quick about this so once you're inside I'm gone.

Once the alarm system was disabled Spencer found herself being yanked up once again up, allowing it to happen made it a lot less painful. After getting out the car door Spencer saw the cabin in front of her and immediately recognized it.

"Ezra's Cabin," Spencer felt more relaxed as she semi-knew the way back to Rosewood from here. Moving slowly due to the leg chains Spencer finally made herself inside the message on the wall that had been sprawled there 2 years prior still prominent.

The figure stood behind Spencer as she took in her surroundings.

"I owe you a secret," the figure said leaning in closer, "Mona is alive."

Spencer shot a look back as the figure left her alone, relieved that if it was finally nearly over and her baby was safe.


	66. Chapter 66

"The operation was a success," the doctor announced at Rosewood hospital, "the bullet was a clean shot but she still lost a lot of blood. It looks positive that she will take up soon."

"Can we see her," Ella Montgomery sighed out in relief, her hand clutching Byron's hand as she held it above her chest.

"Of course," the doctor agreed, "but prepare yourself, she has been through a lot in the past two years."

Anxiously Aria's two parents rushed behind the doctor as they were lead to her room. Their faces filled with so much joy as they saw their daughter for the first time in what seemed like forever but worry as they saw how skinny she had become.

The medical equipment that surrounded her made the changes even more prominent and the white bed sheet showed how pale her face had become with the limited sunlight.

"Oh my God, Aria," Ella cried as she allowed herself to sit in the chair that was next to the brunette's bed, "what have they done to you."

Byron standing next behind supportively rubbed his hand on the woman's shoulder as he whispered, "she's home now, she's safe."

Turning back to the doctor, who was looking at the couple with happiness at the reunion with their lost child, Byron expressed his deepest gratitude before turning to safety, "Will there be constant police protection at the hospital until the monsters that did this are all found."

"I've been informed," the doctor expressed, "that all the girls will be receiving priority protection. It's time to stop worrying, she is home she's safe."

"What you know about the other girls," Ella spoke up, "Aria was the first one in hospital and we haven't heard anything since we were rushed down here."

"Only for the sake of Aria of if she wakes up soon can I say," the doctor explained treading around the patient confidentially act he has sworn too, "Two other girls have been brought in, I don't know which ones. The police are still out looking for the last one."

"Thank you, Doctor," Ella said as she turned her attention back to her daughter, "and you, you just wake up, please."

* * *

"Mona is alive."

The words rang in Spencer's head as she felt like crying in relief, but she also felt that tugging worry that despite her final freedom her kidnapper still lied.

Looking around Spencer judged her options, she was annoyed that the chains that bound her legs together were still on. Trying to walk was difficult.

"This is what Emily must have felt like for like a year," Spencer mumbled in disbelief.

Slowly pulling herself to the kitchen she swung open the cupboards to reveal a couple of cans of beans on the top shelf just out of reach considering her limited mobility.

"Damn it," Spencer muttered, "please let the water be working."

After trying the tap Spencer let out a sigh of relief as water flowed freely and clearly. Bending down and putting her mouth in a stream of water Spencer awkwardly drank up as much as she could. Sure, it wasn't very classy of her, but after spending two years in a bunker that was the last of her worries.

Trying the phone Spencer was left with dead air as no connection went through. Grumbling to herself as she stood wondering what her next move should be. The closest place to her was too far away with her legs limited, but if she didn't do anything that she might as well died in the dollhouse.

Collapsing on the sofa, Spencer tried to figure out what the next move should be. It was nice sitting somewhere comfortable in the daylight, it was the small things that Spencer had missed the most

Suddenly it hit her, her way of escaping. Ezra although not being the most practical man had to have had some workshop tools lying around. After some effort and scrambling through different cupboards Spencer found a reasonably sized saw which after plonking herself on the floor and holding it with both hands she could saw through the chains that held her legs.

"Thank god," Spencer spoke out loud relieved, after judging if it would be safe enough to attempt to do the same with her handcuffs Spencer decided not to jinx it. It has been hard enough to saw through chains once and with no help coming cutting herself on accident would do more harm than good.

Now able to move around the cabin easily Spencer stocked up on supplies, a satchel type bag that stuffed away proved perfect as Spencer grabbed some jars and filled them up with water. Flinging the bag over her shoulder Spencer took one last look around the cabin and the warning, "Stop Digging."

Stepping out of the Cabin Spencer shivered as sherealised how cold she was. Although with no coats or extra clothes available Spencer had no choice but to carry on walking.

* * *

Emily woke up twice on the way to the hospital, the first time she was still out of it. Her main concern each time she awoke was Hanna if she was ok. Every time she was met with the paramedic and her father who was riding along being thankful that she was finally safe and concerned about her condition.

Once both ambulances had arrived at the hospital it was decided it would be in best interest if the girls were to stay together to give some comfort. While Hanna had been taken to her room Emily had been taken to get her arm x-rayed. The doctors where sure with the bruising, swelling and pain that it was swollen, but the exact point of breakage still needed to be known.

Being bombarded with questions made Emily's head spin, the only thing she could focus on was making sure her friends were safe and the identity of one of her kidnappers. She couldn't believe out of all the people who were sick enough to be a part of it that Jenna Marshall would have been.

A cast had been applied in a separate room to let her friend rest and not be disturbed.

As Emily was wheeled back to her room exhausted she heard a riot coming from the direction and doctors dashing into the quarters.

"Hanna," Emily stood up alert immediately regretting it as her arm shot in pain, the painkillers that she had been given hadn't properly kicked in.

"Get of me," Hanna shouted from the other room, as he breathes became short as she was filled with panic.

"Miss Marin, you need to calm down," A doctor tried to stay as Hanna started to thrash around.

"Don't get any closer," Hanna warned with fear in her eyes. After waking up and seeing the clean sterile medical room she had ripped out her IV and been terrified as someone had noticed she had woken up and gone to check how she was.

"Hanna," Emily called out as she quickly made her way into the room.

The blonde looked up at her battered friend, her arm once again broken like when she had first woken up in the bunker, the medical room door locked and the friends trapped.

The sight of her friend and the memories that they brought made the girl spiral out of control even further.

"Am I dead?" Hanna asked as the brunette grew closer.

"I hope not," Emily spoke softly, "this is a pretty crappy afterlife."

The Doctors looked confused at the girl's wordings, but could see they had meaning.

"We're safe," Emily continued, "We are finally safe."

"This…. This is a real hospital," Hanna paused as she took in her surroundings better, her eyes caught on the window which light streamed into, "Em, am I dreaming? Or is this a vivid hallucination?"

"This is very much real," Emily reassured as she hugged her friend who continued to stare out the window, "We are home."


	67. Chapter 67

"Just keep walking," Spencer mumbled to herself, "Mona needs you."

After walking for about a half an hour Spencer had to stop, her feet were bare and covered with new cuts and mud. Settling herself down on the side of a dirt road she took a gulp of water from one of her jars, before struggling to put the lid back on before residing it again in the satchel bag that was swung over her shoulder.

Inspecting her feet Spencer sighed, the pain lessened while she was sitting down but she knew she had to continue in order to get back to Rosewood before the sunset and she was left out in the dark. Helping herself up using the side of a tree Spencer continued walking wincing in pain as she took every new step towards her goal.

"Veronica," Toby tried to catch the women's attention back at the Hasting house.

"Yes Toby," a pitiful reply responded as she wiped away at her eyes at the water that had built up. Finding the girls had been an emotional time for the parents as although everyone else had had the chance to reunite with their loved one no matter what state they were in the Hastings were still yet to hear any news on their youngest daughters' whereabouts.

"Are you sure you are alright staying home and looking after Mona tonight," Toby asked, "I'm staying late again. I promise you we will find her."

"Yeah…. Yeah, that's alright," Mrs Hastings replied, "but I was going to go to the hospital today to check on Emily and Hanna. I've heard Aria still hasn't woken up from surgery but the other girls are awake. I just want to know what they know about Spencer and Marion."

"I'll alert you if anything new comes to light," Toby promised, "Send the girls my love."

"Will do," Veronica responded.

Toby took one last look at his daughter before heading off to the station. The infant was no longer a young baby but instead had reached the 18 months milestone. The young child enjoyed her days colouring with crayons and adventuring out into the garden but always with an adult by her side. The difficult subject of her mother's disappearance and her arrival although were touched on with photos of Spencer being prominent in Marion's life although other stories from after she had come missing was still a mystery to the infant.

"Alright Marion time to get your clothes on," Veronica called the child over as she took to Melissa old room which had no turned into a nursery.

Spencer room had been shut off and not touched, despite Melissa staying over. The thought of Mellissa brought vile thoughts inMrs Hastings head. The daughter that she had loved with all her heart had done something so diabolical and heart-breaking. She hated every moment that she had stepped into her house acting worried, and every time she had taken care of the young Marion when she had been the one herself that had torn her from her mother.

* * *

While Veronica had been staying with Marion since the dollhouse had gone onto the police radar, Mr Hastings had spent his time at the police station. Despite being the best lawyer around he wasn't sure if he would be able to take his daughter's case. She had been caught red-handed after killing a man and putting Aria in hospital. She still hadn't a being convicted as the leader of the A team. What she had done seemed unforgivable, and until his younger daughter had returned home his least priority was Melissa's wellbeing.

"Where is she," A stern police officer asked Mellissa.

"Where is who?" The woman replied, no remorse filled her eyes just anger that she had been caught because of the good for nothing Ezra and his feelings for Aria. With all that Ezra had done Mellissa hoped that the bullet wound Aria suffered would be fatal as it would be her only victory left. It wouldn't make a difference anymore with her playing with her dolls she knew she would end up in jail. Her parents wouldn't back her after all she had done.

"You know who," the officer replied even more annoyed. He had been going at the Hasting for nearly an hour and she hadn't given any useful information.

"I can't say I do officer," Melisa spat back.

"Your sister, Mrs Hastings," The Officer looked like he was about to break, "Where is your sister."

"I haven't seen her since March two years ago," Melissa lied, "I have no idea where she is."

Although true that she didn't know the young Hastings new location she still thought that her partner had continued with the plan she had started and had moved her. The original meeting spot could have been compromised so she had to trust that they had moved on and was far away. She may have lost but she thought that at least her sister hadn't won either.

"We already have enough charged on you for you to be spending a long, long time behind bars," the officer responded, "but if you co-operate and give the name of the last member of your team then you might be able to get parole, as of now even that seems unlikely."

"How about you tell me what you do know and I can fill you in on the blanks, you have already found some of my friends why haven't you asked them? Oh wait, one of them is dead and the other I don't think she will be talking anytime soon either. I know a lot of her secrets which will add time onto her charges."

"I would like you to consider the situation you are currently in Miss Hastings, although bad things can get so much worse," the officer warned again.

"I have nothing to say," Melissa responded, "so if it was anything to you I would like to go back to my cell."

Tilting her head sharply and raising her eyebrow the officer sighed as he stood up, opening the door he ordered some of the officers to deal with the Hasting.

* * *

Emily sat next to Hanna holding her hand tightly as they prepared for Hanna's mum arrival. Ashley had been on a work meeting out of town but as soon as she had heard that they had found the dollhouse she had gotten onto a plane rushed to see her only daughter.

Caleb had visited Hanna since she had been admitted but had left her to sleep and returning back to work. Hanna understood that Caleb had work to do, after being informed that he was the best at the precinct for everything involving a computer she knew that Spencer needed him more than she did. It would be a lie if she was worried about seeing him and her mom again.

After hearing fake cries of sorrow but also hatred, hallucinating them time after time unstill she was no longer sure that anything she saw was real. She needed Emily with her to tell her it was all real, to remind her that she was safe and finally home.

Pam was asleep on top of Emily's bed, she had hardly slept that night as she had stayed with her daughter. There hadn't been much conversation about anything that had happened in the dollhouse, Emily wasn't ready to relive it all.

Numerous nurses had applied in the night to apply cream to her ankles where the cuffs had left their mark. Most of the nurses had left Hanna, she was still too cautious to them so communication had to go through Emily to make sure that the blonde was alright. Despite her mental state, the doctors were not too worried about her physical state. The only thing that worried them was the state of her lungs after spending so long surrounded by dirty coal.

Hanna squeezed Emily's hand as she saw a figure at her door. Emily immediately looked up and stared at the puffy-eyed woman.

"She's real," Emily whispered, "She is really here."

Trying to let go of the blondes' hand, Hanna just held on tonight as she felt herself unable to breathe or speak.

"I can't believe you are really here," tears fell down Ashley's face again. She was wearing flats as she rushed towards her daughter, wanting to hug her but unsure as Hanna flinched as she got close.

"She's real," Hanna breathed out unsure, "Is this a trick."

"Hanna," Emily reassured, "She is real. She is right in front of you. Let go and hug her."

Hanna looked into her mother's eye, the same eyes that she had stared into for the whole of her childhood.

"Mom," Hanna paused as she let go of her friend's hand before embracing her mother, "you are real, you're actually real."

"I love you so much Hanna," Ashley sobbed.

"I love you so much too," Hanna cried as she felt like she could never let go again.


	68. Chapter 68

"Just down here," Spencer thought to herself, "It's not much further till you get to the main road."

The sky above her had turned grey with clouds and rain had been splatting on the girls' head and soaking the little clothing she had on to its core. Spencer's stomach grumbled as she looked down, out of all the things of the dollhouse she missed her daily meals and the ceiling over her head.

Spencer wondered when the last time she had felt water cascading down her body, it had to have been over a fortnight since her last shower. Not that it made much of a difference to how clean she was, she had been given a bar of soap for her birthday as well as other trinkets but her hair hadn't had a proper soap wash for even longer.

Coming on up the main road Spencer saw the blur of a car passing, a rare sight that was annoying to have missed. Traveling down the road Spencer kept her head, her feet were in soaring pain but she knew she had to keep walking, even if it was slow. Her chains chunked along chaining against the floor, the cuffs that held her wrists together clearly in view in front of her.

After about half an hour another car passed her. Spencer sighed as she wondered if anyone would stop as she looked up to see the car had come to a standstill and was starting to reverse towards her. Sheer panic took over her as the sudden thought that someone else on the A team might not have been caught and was now after her.

Instead, Spencer backed down from trying to persuade herself when a smaller figure popped out of the car. The figure was a girl about 4 years younger than Spencer herself.

"Dad, I'm sure. That's the girl from the news," Spencer heard as she stood still, "It's definably her, I recognise her. Her hands are chained together and she isn't wearing any shoes. She isn't wearing much.

There was faint speaking from the car from a male but it was unrecognisable to Spencer.

"It's cold and wet out here," the voice spoke out to Spencer, "I'm Kelly. You're the girl from the news right. The one that went missing."

Spencer nodded.

"You're safe now. You can come with us and we can make sure you are safe. You must be freezing, "Kelly responded before turning back to her car with a hushed voice asking for her father to pass the umbrella.

Opening under the umbrella and keeping herself dry the girl made her way over to Spencer before she knew it the umbrella was under Spencer's head too and she hadn't moved.

"My dad's in the car, we can help you. Take you to the hospital and call the police," Kelly told gently.

"No, don't call anyone," Spencer responded shacking, "They will know where I am then, they will find me."

"Who will find you? The Police? Do you not want them to find you?" Kelly asked confused.

"They will be listening, they will find me again," Spencer replied.

"Ok that's fine, we won't call," Kelly reassured, "Do you want to get in the car, it's warmer. And I have a blanket in the boot. You must be freezing."

Spencer nodded as she was led to the car, she was helped in as her bag was removed and put in the back before a blanket was put over her lap.

Spencer looked around at the car, the driver seemed more concerned about the state she was in instead of the mud and blood that she had brought in with her.

"This is my dad Gary," Kelly explained, "I'm going to get into the back of the car ok."

Spencer nodded.

"We got to get you to the hospital. How much pain are you in?" Gary asked.

"No hospital, not yet," Spencer replied cautiously, "I need to go to the station."

"What's your name, young lady?" Gary enquired as he started up the engine.

"Spencer," the brunette replied, "Spencer Hasting."

* * *

"Emily," Hanna tried to get through to her friend who had been staring out the window before starting to have a panic attack, "Emily snap out of it, you're not in the dollhouse anymore."

Hanna braced her hands on her friend's shoulders before turning and looking out to where the ex-swimmer had been staring. Nurses surrounded her figuring out what the best move would be in the situation.

"Shut the curtains," Hanna ordered. After a pause of nothing happening, Hanna shouted louder, "Shut the god damn curtains!"

Hurriedly one of the nurses stood back and did what was being asked, Hanna continued to focus only on Emily.

"You're not going to die, I am not going to let that happen," Hanna tried to calm the girl down, she knew what had caused the sudden panic attack. It had started with the downpour of rain, the fear that Emily now experienced of running water. The fear that they would make her drown again.

"Look at me," Hanna ordered, "they are not here. I am here, I am not going to let anything happen to you."

"It's just filling up too quickly, I can't move," Emily managed to whisper amongst her fear, her eyes going between being wide then shut like she was trying to escape.

Memory's forced themselves upon her, her death. She knew she died, and then she woke up in a hospital bed, just like the one that she was lying in. Emily shut her eye's tight.

"Just shut up," Emily shouted caught in her nightmare, "Stop crying, I don't know where Spencer is Mona."

"She thinks she is in the medical room after she drowned," Hanna muttered to herself, "Emily just breathe. You're safe, no one is going to hurt you here."

As Hanna continued Pam came rushing into the room followed by Ashley, the two women had been taken out of the room ten minutes prior to get informed of their children's condition without breaking down in front of them.

"Emily," Pam looked at her daughter but felt helpless.

"Mrs Fields just please stay back," Hanna instructed, "She's having a panic attack."

Mrs Fields felt helpless as she didn't know what to do to help her daughter, after all the time that she hadn't been able to protect her daughter under the wrath of A she failed once again.

After about twenty minutes Emily had calmed down enough to be talked to.

"Honey, baby," Pam looked at her daughter with concern and sadness in her eyes, "What caused this?"

Emily looked at Hanna, un-wanting to delve into her tortured history herself and hoping her best friend would explain.

Hanna squeezed her friends hand in response as she looked up, "Mrs Fields, can I speak to you outside, "Mom, can you stay with Emily please."

"Sure darling," Ashely agreed, proud and happy that her daughter had looked the strongest since she had returned.

Taking Pam outside Hanna paused before a chair, "You might want to sit down."

Mrs Fields did as she was told not feeling completely prepared for the answer that came next.

"We went through a lot in the past two years," Hanna started to explain, "some of it we may never be able to say, but you need to know this. It was a while ago now but, Emily is really scared of running water now."

"But she's a swimmer," Mrs Fields responded, "She has always loved the water."

"Please, just let me finish," Hanna continued, "She died in there. She drowned, but they brought her back. I don't know how long for but her heart stopped."

Pam felt sick, she was glad that she was sitting down as now the whole world felt like it was crushing her.

"They put her in a box, and if I wasn't fast enough before the water rose… She was chained down and I wasn't fast enough," Hanna felt herself constantly pausing as it felt too much to say, "God, I'm so sorry. I'm just so sorry."

"She's alive, and that's all that matters," Pam replied, emotional herself.

* * *

"Excuse me," Kelly walked up to the police station front desk, "Me and my dad found the girl you are looking for."

Toby's ears spiked up as he heard the girls' words from the other side of the room. Stopping what he was doing he rushed over and interrupted the conversation.

"What did she say her name was?" Toby begged to know.

"She said it was Spencer," Kelly replied, "She's with my dad in the car. She wouldn't let us take her to the hospital before we came here."

"Please, take me to her," Toby asked his heart felt like it was about to explode.

Kelly lead the way to the car as Toby stopped short, he saw the brunette in the front seat staring out into the town. He saw Kelly's father see him as he pointed for Spencer to look. He saw the love of his life's face light up as their eyes met and his own heart felt like crumbling inside of him as she was finally safe.

Kelly opened the passenger door as Toby rushed sprinted towards his love as he threw his arms around her in the car.

"Toby," Spencer gasped as tears ran down her cheeks.

"You don't have to say anything," Toby replied, "I love you so much Spencer Jill Hastings, please never leave my side again."

"Here feet are badly injured," Kelly pointed out to Toby once their embrace has lasted longer than she was comfortable to stand there for, "You probably want to carry her in."

"You alright for me to carry you," Toby asked as he stroked Spencer's cheek.

Spencer nodded as she was lifted out of the car, her arms resting against the back of his head as he feet hanging in the air.

The rain had stopped at that point as Toby carried his love from the car to the station as shocked eyes turned on them at Spencer's return.


	69. Chapter 69

"Toby," Spencer whispered overwhelmed with emotion," you found the others?"

Despite hearing it on the police radio Spencer needed confirmation before she could relax.

"They're at the hospital, Aria was shot, her surgery went fine but I don't really know anything else about the situation," Toby explained keeping the girl tight to his chest.

"What about Mona," Spencer paused with worry, "Did you find her to?"

Toby stopped walking, he was inside the entrance of the station but not far enough to get Spencer comfortably settled down.

"She's…. She's dead Spencer," Toby watched the face of the women he loved crumble, "Her body turned up a couple of months after you went missing."

Spencer stopped as she realised how he didn't know, even after all the girls had come back home he still didn't know about his daughter. The worry that sudden hit Spencer was what if her baby had never managed to make it out of the dollhouse and her kidnapper had lied that she had survived.

"Not that Mona Toby," Spencer hesitated, "My baby. Our baby. I know Vanderwaal died, she died in front of me as I couldn't save her."

"Marion," Toby replied instantly almost not speaking to the brunette.

"What?" Spencer caught onto the words but didn't understand the meaning.

"I named her Marion," Toby repeated, "She's safe. She is with your mother."

"She's safe?" Spencer felt relief like she could finally relax.

She's safe," Toby confirmed with softness in his voice, "She turned up on Christmas eve 19 months ago."

"Toby what's the date," Spencer asked quietly.

"22nd July," Toby answered knowing Spencer would do the maths in her head.

"Aria's birthday, that long huh," Spencer realised how much of her life in Rosewood she had missed, "You can put me down you know."

Toby thought for a moment before deciding if he should say it, "Do you know who did this to you?" As he waited for a response he moved to the main office part so he could set Spencer down.

"No," Spencer replied, "but the last one said something. I need to know, was it Melissa."

Toby let Spencer down slowly making sure her feet didn't touch the ground in fear of searing pain that would follow them. He didn't want to tell the girl the truth that it had been her own blood that had sent her through hell but he knew she would come to know soon enough.

As Toby prepared herself Mr Hastings entered the room with a huge smile on his face as he saw his youngest daughter.

"Dad!" Spencer shrieked in delightment as the father and daughter embraced, "That means it's true doesn't it. If you're here.

"What's true," Peter looked confused.

"It was Melissa, she did this," Spencer stated feeling unconnected from what had actually happened.

"Yeah Spence," Toby confirmed, "She's in custody now."

"Who else?" Spencer asked with a hatred in her words, "Who else was it?"

"Jenna and Ezra and someone else," Toby replied hesitantly, "When we turned up on the scene Ezra had been shot."

"You said Mona was with my mom," Spencer turned her attention onto her most important aspect of her life.

Toby nodded.

"Where?" Spencer asked, "I need to see my baby."

"She said she was going to visit the others at the hospital," Toby replied, "I'll check, but we need to get you there too. Mr Hastings can you call for an ambulance please, and we need to get these handcuffs of you.

* * *

"She hasn't woken up yet has she?" Emily asked the doctor who had just walked in that had been giving them news previously on their friend.

The Doctor shook his head.

"Do we know," Emily paused before composing herself, "If she is ever going to wake up?"

"We don't know, but we are hopeful," the doctor responded, "I came in here to see if Hanna would be alright to have a lung test. We are concerned about all the coal she had been living around, and you have a visitor."

"Who?" Emily asked before turning to Hanna to see her response to the request.

"Veronica Hasting,"

Hanna's ears perked up, "Have they found Spencer?"

"Not yet," The doctor explained, "She is here to see you two."

"You can send her in but I don't think Hanna is ready for the exam, sorry doc," Emily apologised, "She knew how skittish the girl got when surrounded by people, especially when it came to touching her.

Mrs Hastings entered the room pushing in a pushchair with her.

Hanna's face lit up as she realised who had joined her and immediately jumped out of bed and rushed over to the side of the pushchair.

Stepping out of the way to allow the blonde more room Mrs Hastings spoke to the girls, "I'm so glad you two are ok."

"Mona," Hanna looked at the toddler smiling up at her in the pushchair before deciding the urgent need to hold her.

Veronica looked slightly shocked and unsettled as Hanna reached down and picked up the child holding her closely and making sure not to drop her.

"Look how big you got," Hanna sat back down on her bed as she kept the child supported.

"That's Spencer's kid I presume," Emily spoke as Veronica stayed confused, "She was safe with you all this time?"

"Yeah, I was wondering what you knew about her and Spencer," Veronica clarified, "Did she say Mona?"

"That's her name, the name Spencer gave her," Emily explained as she got off her own bed to join Hanna to cuddle the child.

"After Mona Vanderwaal?" Veronica stated.

"A lot happened in the dollhouse," Emily replied as she tickled the child's belly with her one good hand, "Spencer's going to be so happy when she comes home to you."

Turning back her attention of Mrs Hastings Emily asked in all seriousness, "She is Toby's right, did you have tests to prove it?"

"Definably Toby's," Veronica confirmed.

"Phew, I've always just been a bit worried the timings where very close," Emily felt relieved.

"Do you know when she was born," Veronica asked, "We have only had a rough estimate, nothing conclusive."

"23rd of October 2012," Emily responded, "Spencer figured it out. We didn't have clocks or anyway to tell the date apart from when certain events happened. Spencer figured it out from counting back from Halloween. Special days where they liked to have extra fun."

Emily stared off into the seemingly distance before she was pulled back to reality.

"How… How was Spencer," Mrs Hastings asked timidly, "down there?"

"That's more something you will have to ask her when she is brought home. She went through a lot of stuff as did us all, but losing Mona broke her more than the rest of it," Emily told.

As Emily finished her sentence Mrs Hastings phone rang, looking at the scene Veronica saw Toby' contact pop up. Answering it quickly she put the mobile up to her ear.

"We found her," Toby spoke quickly, "She's at the station. An ambulance is coming to get her to the hospital. Are you there with Marion?"

Mrs Hastings felt overwhelmed with delight as she looked at Hanna and Emily with the child unable to keep in her excitement.

"Is she?" Emily's eyes lit up.

"They found her," Veronica screamed, "They found my baby girl, she is safe at the station. An ambulance is bringing her in.

"Veronica," Toby spoke on the other end of the line waiting for a response.

"Go wait for her," Emily instructed, "We can look after Mona."

"Her name, the one Toby gave her is Marion by the way," Veronica explained before turning back her attention to the phone, "Yes Toby in here. How long will it take you to get here, can I speak to her?"

"The ambulance just arrived so not long till we get there," Toby expressed before rumbling passed over the telephone signal and a new ear was pressed against the phone.

"Mom?"

* * *

Veronica waited as Spencer was brought in, she cried as her eyes fell upon her face as she realised how much she had missed her daughter. It seemed almost impossible that she was finally safe and with her, it was fear that at any moment she would wake up and it wouldn't have just been a beautiful dream.

"Where's Mona?" Spencer immediately asked as she saw her mother coming alone.

"She's upstairs with the Hanna and Emily, in their medical room,"

"I need to see her,"

"You need us to take a look at your injuries first," A doctor interrupted, "Your feet are extremely damaged.

"They are fine," Spencer shot back, "I need to see my baby."

"They are cut and look like they might get infected if they are not sorted out immediately," the doctor replied back keeping calm, "We don't want anything to happen which could lead to you losing them."

"That could happen?" Veronica asked shocked, "Spencer you're not going anywhere."

"How long will this take?" Spencer moaned.

"Not long," The doctor explained, "As long as no extreme damaged has occurred this should be a simple task. How are you feeling apart from your feet, any other injuries we should be immediately made aware of?"

"No, I'm fine," Spencer snapped, "I just really need to see my daughter."

"It won't be long Spencer. Nurse could you get me a medical gown for Mrs Hastings to change into," the doctor asked, "these clothes are less than suitable.


	70. Chapter 70

"Are we done now," Spencer asked looking eagerly at the clock that was ticking away in front of her.

"All done," the doctor concluded wrapping up the girl's feet to protect them, "But I don't want you walking on these at all. You will be needing to use a wheelchair."

"Ok ok, "Spencer rushed, "What floor are they on?"

"I'll take you there," Veronica told her daughter. She could tell if it wasn't for her feet she would have jumped out of the bed she was lying on and ran across the hospital trying to find her daughter.

Pulling up a wheelchair, Toby lifted her into it and quickly Mrs Hastings drove her daughter to the elevator.

As the doors opened on the other end Spencer felt a rush of panic and relief, what if her daughter didn't recognise her? What is she hated her? What if when she grew up she would never forgive her for the situation she was born into?

Spencer turned the corner as through the open door she saw two of her best friends cuddling her child. They were all safe, she was finally home.

Hanna looked up from holding the child as she heard the footsteps coming to the door. Carefully holding the child, she lifted her up from her lap and brought her over to the entrance where Spencer's arms where reaching out. Unable to speak as the pure joy washed over her as she looked at how big her baby had grown in her absence.

"Does, does she know me at all," Spencer struggled to speak.

"She's seen you in photos and we talk about you," Toby explained, "She doesn't know the past 2 years though."

"Good," Spencer declared, "She shouldn't have to. Not at her age."

Mona looked up into Spencer's eyes as she recognised the person before her. She reached out and held gently on Spencer's hair as she seemed confused that she was here before her.

"Hello Mona," Spencer spoke, her words brief.

"She goes by Marion, Spence," Toby butted in.

"but her birth day, her real name is Mona," Spencer held.

Spencer embraced her child as hardly any words were exchanged.

Spencer looked into her daughter's eyes, Mona had stayed very quiet the whole time trying to figure out the situation. Looking back at her mother she knew the connection they held. Replaying the word, she had spoken so many times before she let out a confused and questioning smile, "Mommy?"

* * *

After an hour hiding away in Hanna and Emily's room, the girls strolled down the long corridor to where Aria had been comatose since her surgery. Hanna pushed Spencer in her chair with Mona on her lap. Emily walked to the side of them.

As they continued they were stared at by hospital guests as well as visitors. After all, they knew they knew they were the girls that had gone missing for over 2 years and had only just emerged.

The girl's parents and Toby had decided to stay back in the hospital room as the group explored. They knew it wouldn't be the best reaction to overcrowd them. It would feel weird enough being out of the bunker as it was, adding in everything else seemed a bit overwhelming,

And they knew, if anything did happen they had each other, but if it was something really bad they were surrounded by doctors that would know what to do.

"They want to take us to psych," Hanna spoke up after she was out of earshot, "I heard them talking. I'm not going to let them."

"What, like Radley?" Emily exclaimed, "They want to send us to one crazy house to another.

"Not Radley," Hanna spoke, "I spoke to my mom when you were asleep, I tried to catch up on stuff. Radley shut down about a year ago."

"So somewhere equally bad as Radley then," Spencer spoke, "Do they not think we are safe?"

"I just don't think they would expect us to be sane," Emily told, "After all, it's not even like they know the whole story."

"Well they did see you having a panic attack about some rain and I won't let them touch me so I'm sure we look perfectly healthy to them," Hanna joked, "You do actually really need to have a wash though Em, if I'm to keep staying in the same room as you I might need to get some spray to hide the stench."

"You didn't seem to mind in the bunker," Emily pointed out.

"Well, I stunk there too so It like evened out," Hanna laughed.

"What have you guys heard about Aria?" Spencer asked stopping the conversation in its track.

"The bullet didn't hit any major stuff but she lost a lot of blood, they were confident she would wake up but we just have to wait,"

"Do they like know she is deaf?" Spencer inquired.

"I haven't said," Hanna replied, "Em?"

"Me neither," Emily responded.

As they came to the door they saw Mrs Montgomery sitting in the chair by Aria's bed talking to her sweetly.

"Do we say?" Emily continued as she stopped by the room.

"They do need to know," Hanna pointed out.

"We don't, not until she wakes up, Mrs Montgomery needs that hope that her daughter can hear her," Spencer spoke.

"Oh my god Spencer you're alright," Mrs Montgomery jumped as she saw the four girls enter the room, "And you have Marion with you."

"Thank you for your concern Mrs Montgomery," Spencer replied sweetly, "Do you know how she is?"

"Nothing has changed, I can leave you guys to be together for a bit if you want," Mrs Montgomery said.

"That would be lovely," Emily thanked the women as she picked up her bag and left the room.

Hanna wheeled Spencer over to the bed as the brunette reached out her hand to hold her tiny friend, "Just you wake up now Ar, I have someone I want you to meet."

* * *

"Your sister is safe," One of the officers at the police station told Mellissa as she sat in her cell, "Are you ready to talk now."

"Where did you find her?" Mellissa asked curiously, "Was she hurt at all?"

"She was brought into the station," The officer continued.

"By who," Melissa interrupted trying to weigh up if she should give the officer the name of the last member of the A team he was looking for.

"A family," the officer replied.

"So, they left her then," Melissa muttered, "You know what, that good for nothing has everything coming to them. Do you want to know who it was?

"Let me get you out of that cell and you can write up your confession to me," The officer smiled warmly as he got ready.

Once in the room, he sat down in front of the girl with a pad of paper and pen.

"I need you to write down everything you know," he explained, "but so I can put out an arrest warrant I need to know their name first."

"He used me and manipulated me. He was the one that shot Ezra and made take the fall, he was so violent. With Spencer he would beat her if she didn't eat fast enough," Melissa ranted trying to make herself seem like the victim as much as possible.

"but what is their name," the officer repeated.

"You have to promise you won't let him hurt me," Mellissa begged, "I can't go through that again. He took it out on me when I tried stopping him from hurting the girls."

"We won't let him hurt you Miss Hastings," the officer promised, "What is his name?"

"Wren Kingston," Melissa stated, "His name is Wren Kingston."

"Thank you very much," the officer uttered, "Please write down everything you can think off, only truth. I need to inform the squad. Do you know where he could be heading?"

"He has a couple of fake passports, he could be anywhere," Melissa detailed, "but if he let Spencer go I would think he knows he's running out of time."


	71. Chapter 71

After Spencer had arrived the girls were moved to a larger room so that they could all be together, the outlook on when they would be allowed to go home didn't look good. Although Emily could potentially be allowed out due to the extent of her injury's the doctors had decided that the best course of action would be to keep her at the hospital in case any more cases of PTSD emerged.

It had been 2 days since Spencer had returned home and night had fallen outside once again. The girls had been left alone in their room for the first time. The door had been shut and the doctors had been told not to disturb them unless it was for their own safety. It was part of their experiment to see how the girls were able to react when being left alone again.

The truth was they were not reacting well, not one of them had slept at all. Instead, they each sat on their beds the dim light brightening up their bedroom enough for them to see each other enough.

It almost felt like they were being listened to, that at any noise nurses would come blundering into their room to see if they were alright like they were expected to immediately break.

"Have they talked to you about therapy," Spencer signed across the room. No one else had known yet of the girl's new ability and it was an advantage that they hoped they would be able to keep secret until Aria woke up because they knew Aria had to wake up.

Both Emily and Hanna nodded.

"Nothing more had been said about psych, however," Hanna signed back to the relief of her friends.

"Can we even say what happened down there," Emily tried to sign back, her cast arm proving it difficult, "I don't think I can."

"I can't even tell you guys some of the stuff and we were there together," Spencer replied, "but I do need help. I don't know how I am going to survive without the meds."

"How long?" Hanna asked.

Spencer didn't reply.

"How long have you been on them?" Hanna repeated.

"Longer than before," Spencer replied.

"Do they know?" Emily questioned.

"I presume so, but they haven't said it to my face," Spencer answered, "I need the stupid pills to get to sleep."

"Is Mona with Toby?" Hanna signed.

Spencer nodded, "You would think I would sleep better knowing she is safe, but I need to be with her. They don't trust be enough for that."

"I'm sure Toby trusts you," Hanna replied trying to comfort her friend

"He doesn't not completely, I can see it in his eyes. He thinks I am going to snap," Spencer signed rigidly, "I can't sleep, I need to see Aria."

"She still isn't awake Spencer," Emily signed.

"I just need to see her," Spencer took in a deep breathe, "If they come in just say I went for a walk well a wheel down the corridors. I haven't left. No red alert again. Get to sleep you two."

"Do you need help getting in your wheelchair?" Hanna inquired.

"I'll be fine," Spencer responded as she lifted herself from her bed and sluggishly got into the wheelchair. She hated being trapped by it, one minute she was trapped in the dollhouse, then Ezra's cabin and the only reason she was trapped again was because she had to escape.

Silently she forced open the door and wheeled herself out into the corridor. It was quite empty outside, the odd nurse and doctor but they weren't her doctor so didn't pay much attention to her sneaking out.

Spencer wheeled herself down the corridor to the other side of the hospital to Aria's room. She knew the small brunette would be connected to many machines making sure she was alive, thankfully both Aria's parents had gone home for the day.

She knew the parents were all together, she had overheard her mom talking. Just like how the girls were having trouble being home their parents were having trouble with them being there. It wasn't as if them being home was annoying it's just that they struggled with knowing what to do, or what to say.

Opening Aria's door Spencer pushed away the chair that was on the side of Aria's bed so she could use the space herself.

"Hi Ar," Spencer spoke out knowing full well she couldn't hear here. Picking up her chart from the side of her bed Spencer started to read. She knew she wasn't meant to but there was no one to stop her.

Putting the chart back Spencer held onto her friend's hand and started to move her finger along gently in the shape of an S in hopes that she would know that she was here with her.

"I don't know how I am going to do this again," Spencer paused as she talked hushed not wanting anyone to overhear, "They are going to realise how much I need these pills again, then what are they going to do, send me to rehab. I just got back home but I need help because I can't fall asleep without them."

"And what happens then, are they not going to allow me to see Mona. Are they going to deem me to mentally unstable?"

"They know who was torturing us, they still need to catch the last one. My father says it's an open and close court case, I don't think I could go attend caught and say anything. I don't think I could give a statement. If I can't even tell you guys some of the stuff I have been though how am I going to tell a jury of my peers. They are just going to be looking at us, judging us. I just can't handle that."

"But if we don't do they get let off, not having to suffer like they made us. I haven't told you any of their names. They make me feel sick, one of them are dead. The one with you. That sick son of a… Well, they say don't speak like that about the dead but I hope he rots in hell."

"Aria what am I going to do? I need you."

"Aria?" Spencer questioned in shock as saw a slight head movement in her friend.

Grabbing Aria's hand so that their fingers interlinked Spencer squeezed it. Spencer waited as Aria stopped moving, then she felt a faint squeeze of her hand back followed by Aria's hazel eyes opening slightly.

Spencer tried to lean in so she was more in Aria's line of site once she woke up.

"Doctor! Nurse!" Spencer shouted out as loudly as she could.

As one doctor rushed in she took to Aria's side as she tried speaking to the girl, "Aria honey can you hear me?"

"She can't" Spencer replied back.

"Let her try," the doctor calmly replied as more medical professionals entered the room.

"She's deaf," Spencer shot back, "She can't hear you."

"That wasn't in her file," The doctor behind her sounded confused, "Why wasn't that in her file?"

"We didn't say," Spencer felt slightly guilty but justified for her actions, "We couldn't let her mom know. She needed the hope she could hear her."

Aria opened her eye's more as she felt scared by all the people surrounding her, the last thing she remembered was the pain. The gun, she was on the floor than nothing.

Confused she looked in the direction her hand was being squeezed, Spencer. Spencer was here, she was in a wheelchair. Aria looked around she didn't recognise this room, she had never been here before.

She could feel the needles poking into her skin feeding her, the people that crowded around her. It felt like she was suffocating. There was too many of them to be the A team, and that look in Spencer's eyes of fierce protection was something she could never have when trying to go against the A team. It was something she had lost long before.

Her eyes trained on Spencer's she didn't have to ask what was happening or where she knew Spencer understood.

"Hospital, Safe," Spencer signed as she had to let go of her hand.

"Safe," Aria muttered, as she felt like people were giving her space to breathe, "we are safe?"

Spencer nodded.

"Where are Emily and Hanna?" Aria shot up in panic.

"Safe," Spencer responded, "We are all safe."

Spencer held Aria hand again. The doctors worked around the girl checking all of her stats where ok. Aria felt overwhelmed too much was happening and Spencer could see the girl was suffering."

"Everyone out," Spencer ordered as she felt her hand being pulled closer to Aria's chest, She need's her space. She just woke up."

The least important medical staff decided to leave, which left 2 doctors.

"I said leave," Spencer repeated, I will call if anything happens, and go call her parents she has waited long enough to see them and tell Emily and Hanna. They deserve to know and don't you dare try to stop them if they want to come. We have been through hell and back and you cannot break us apart now."

Spencer stopped her rant as she heard the voice of the girl in the bed call her name softly, "Spence."


	72. The End

One of the doctors had gone to collect the other two girls to tell them of Aria's awakening and to inform her family.

The other doctor had refused to leave, apparently something about making sure there was no damage that wasn't seen before. They stayed on the other side of the bed to Spencer and needed the girl to be able to sign to her friend so what they could know how she was feeling.

Hanna and Emily arrived before Aria's parents, the relief that was prominent on their face grew as they say their friend sitting up in bed able to communicate with Spencer.

"Thank God," Hanna signed, "You scared us Ar."

"Sorry," Aria whispered, "Wasn't my idea to get shot. What happened?"

Spencer, Emily, and Hanna all looked at each other.

"Are you sure you want to know all of it?" Spencer questioned.

"Who was it?" Aria replied, "Who shot me?"

Spencer took the lead as she spelled out their name on her hand, "M E L…"

"Melissa," Aria looked shocked, "Melissa, your sister. Your sister Melissa shot me!?"

Spencer nodded.

"Melissa is on the A team!?" Aria shouted.

Spencer felt guilty that her own family could be responsible for what had happened to her, it made her consider if she should wait to tell her the news about Ezra. She wondered if it would all be too much for her, she knew the truth would have to come out eventually.

"Mel wasn't the only one," Spencer continued, "Do you want to know who else."

Aria nodded.

"When all hell broke loose they separated," Spencer explained," One of them went after Hanna and Emily, another with me and 2 stayed with you."

Silences filled the room as Spencer spoke out loud signing the response as well, "Apparently is was Wren, Toby told me, Wren was the one that took me from the dollhouse. I didn't get out at the same time as you guys. He took me to a cabin where he left me. He was scared, he had found out you guys had been saved that the rest of the team had been caught."

Spencer looked at Hanna and Emily to tell their side of the story. Emily spoke as Hanna signed it out.

"The collar was going off for Hanna and the doors had been opened. I went to Hanna's room, gas was filling the room. We heard a noise so I stood behind the door, they had a gun, they saw Hanna was weak and her collar was off. She knew I had helped her. She was going to kill me so I wouldn't be able to speak. I attacked them and the gun went off."

"I heard it through the bunker," Spencer interrupted, "Wren told me it was Mona, so they wouldn't have to build another nursery. They threatened if I didn't keep moving they would come back to shoot you."

Emily waited till Spencer finished to keep speaking, despite Spencer returning home previously the girls hadn't said each part of their story.

"The bullet missed us but the gas was making me dizzy, I knocked the gun from their hand. It was on the floor, I had to jump for it. I have friction burns now but they will heal. I got the gun, pointed it at them, they stopped. The police came, my dad was there. They unmasked them, it still doesn't feel right that it was them. Jenna, it was Jenna. She can see."

Aria seemed taken aback but not fully panicked, "Who was also with me."

All the girls didn't want to say.

"Guys, who was it," Aria repeated getting annoyed.

"Ezra," Spencer signed.

"What," Aria thought she misunderstood.

"It was Ezra," Spencer repeated.

"It can't be Ezra, He loved me, He loves me," Aria sounded defensive.

"Aria," Hanna looked over at Spencer, "Ezra's dead."

Aria couldn't comprehend what she was being told, it couldn't be correct. The man she loved couldn't have done that to her, "No."

"What," Spencer replied shocked forgetting to sign but her face explained everything.

"No," Aria repeated, "He isn't dead, He can't be dead. He isn't on the A team. He wouldn't have done it, he could never. He loves me."

"Aria I'm so sorry," Hanna apologised, "but it's the truth. He's dead, he was on the A team. Maybe he did love you but he had a sick way of showing it."

Aria had burst into tears, her breathing was shallow, "Why?"

"We don't know," Spencer tried to calm her down along with a doctor who had returned to the room.

"Why would he do this to me," Aria spoke, "How."

"It's alright Aria, it's alright," Spencer continued.

"Mom," Aria looked up as she saw her mother in the doorway of the room.

"Aria," Ella responded overjoyed that her daughter has woken up.

Aria tried to get up as she was stopped by a sharp pain.

"Don't get up for me, stay in bed. I'm so happy you are alright," Mrs Montgomery spoke quickly, although her daughter was unable to understand.

Aria looked over at her friends as the look on her face asked the question, "She doesn't know does she."

Emily shook her head.

"Em," Aria with the look in her eye looked from her friend to her mother, "Can you."

"What's wrong," Ella sounded worried.

"Mrs Montgomery," Emily spoke to the women, "Stuff happened in the dollhouse. Stuff that has changed Aria, has changed all of us. Aria is deaf, she can't hear you."

"What," Ella was shocked. Aria watched her mother's face for the reaction, "How."

"That bit doesn't matter, this has been her situation for a while. I can translate anything you want to say, we know sign language," Emily continued.

Ella felt like she didn't need any words as she walked up to her daughter's bedside and embraced her in a hug.

* * *

"Are they letting us out yet?" Hanna questioned, "We have been in this hospital for like forever."

"It's been 2 weeks Han," Emily replied, "That hasn't been forever."

"Why won't they let us out," Hanna asked with annoyance in her tone.

"You need to let the doctors examine you properly before they let you leave," Emily replied, And the rest of us our injuries are not minor enough for them to let us go."

"I'm fine," Hanna protested, "I was lucky.

"Are you going to tell them about your hallucinations?" Emily asked.

"They don't need to know about them,"

"They are your doctor, of course, they need to know about them," Emily replied looking over at her friend, "And it might help. Especially with Caleb."

"Why would it help with Caleb then?" Hanna sounded defensive.

"I know you have been avoiding letting him see you," Emily explained, "And I know it's probably because of the hallucinations you had in the dollhouse where he would visit you."

"Why would it be because of that," Hanna retorted, "Why would I not want to see him."

"Because Aria had hallucinations of Ezra, and they turned out real. I know you are scared that yours were as well," Emily explained, "You need to talk to someone about them at least, you haven't really spoken about them to any of us either."

"Melissa," Hanna quietly spoke.

"What?" Emily asked sounding confused.

"I didn't just have hallucinations about my mom or Caleb, there was other people," Hanna paused composing herself, "Melissa was one of them, she would scream at me. Blame me for not looking after her sister, blame me for letting her get into the state she was."

"And you think," Emily figured.

"That maybe those were not hallucinations since she was the one torturing us. That maybe I was never hallucinating," Hanna sounded defeated.

"Your Mom would never hurt you. She would never do anything to cause you harm. And we know there were four A members and we know who all of them are, Caleb wasn't involved. He was only involved in trying to get us back home," Emily tried to give sense to her reasoning, "Are you going to let the doctors give you a full work up exam now?"

"Will you stay with me if I do?" Hanna asked.

"I won't leave your side unless I have to, I promise," Emily agreed.

* * *

"Have you told the doctors about your problem?" Aria signed to Spencer. Aria had joined the rest of the girls in their room after waking up from surgery. She knew the other girls were too occupied in their conversation to notice her.

"They know. I know they know, they haven't said anything," Spencer signed back awkwardly.

"Your sweating," Aria pointed out.

"My mom is making them reduce my pain meds," Spencer replied, "She is scared I'm going to get addicted."

"But you already are," Aria replied, "You haven't been falling asleep at night, you have bags under your eyes. Is it one of the symptoms or something else?"

"No sleeping pills," Spencer reluctantly responded, "I used to get them after every meal. Every day, I need them."

Aria was about to continue when a doctor entered the room to do some checks on the girls' welfare.

"How are your feet feeling today Mrs Hastings,"

"Great," Spencer replied sarcastically, "How long till I can get rid of this wheelchair."

"When we are certain that you won't injure yourself further by walking on them," The doctor responded, "Could you get on the bed please and stick your legs out. I want to see how they are getting along."

Spencer did as she was told.

"We are looking good here. No sign of infection. How are the pain levels?" The doctor asked.

"Manageable," Spencer replied.

"That's good," The doctor continued, "Have you been feeling unwell in any other ways."

Aria shot Spencer a glare to say that she needed to speak up about her problem.

"No," Spencer lied.

"Are you sure," the doctor pressed the issue again noticing the girl's behaviour.

"I'm sure," Spencer replied annoyed, she just wanted the doctor to leave before Aria made her say something.

"Have you been on any regular medication in the past 2 years?" the doctor continued to ask, "Anything at all. Anything that helped you cope down there but you don't have anymore."

"Tell him," Aria signed, knowing full well that the doctor didn't know sign language and wouldn't be able to tell what was being said.

Spencer paused, "There were some drugs."

"Do you know what they were?" the doctor asked concerned trying to make a mental note of what the girl was about to say.

"Sleeping pills, pain medication I don't know what else," Spencer slowly spoke, "I don't know what they were exactly."

"And how have you been feeling without them," the doctor pushed for answers, connecting the already visual signs.

"I can't sleep. I need them," the brunette replied feeling defeated.

"You are on pain medication now, for your feet correct?" The doctor asked for confirmation.

Spencer nodded.

"Ok Spencer, thank you for telling me the truth. This means we can help you and fix your problem," the doctor spoke in kindness, "We can slowly reduce the amount you are given until you no longer depend on them. Going through withdraw can be nasty."

The doctor took Spencer's chart and started to leave the room.

"Excuse me," Emily spoke out to the confusion of Hanna, "Hanna is willing to do the medical tests people keep wanting her to if I can stay with her all the time. Is that ok?"

"That would be perfect," the doctor commented, relieved that the blonde was finally allowing medical treatment, "I just need to sort this out then I can come back with my team and we can sort your friend out too."

As the doctor left the girls heard a knock on their door.

"Come in," Spencer called as the door opened to reveal a pushchair being pushed in slowly by Alison.

"Did you miss me?" Alison spoke her iconic line as the rest of the girls just stared at her. Despite being in the hospital for the past 2 weeks the girls hadn't seen Alison yet. She looked more grown up then the girls remembered, it was obvious that she was trying to put on a brave face in front of her friends.

The blonde looked around at her friends, seeing the changes in their faces. The scars and reminders that covered their body's. The reason it had taken her so long to visit the girls was that she was scared. Scared that they would blame her for everything that happened. She blamed herself for it.

"Toby got called into the station," Ali tried to break the silence, "He was going to take Marion her to see her mommy today, so I said I would bring her instead."

Walking further into the room Alison, the door shut behind her, "She fell asleep on the car ride here but I'm sure she won't mind being woken up."

Spencer scooted herself to the edge of the bed to get in her wheelchair.

"Don't worry Spence, I'll bring her to you," Alison said as she saw the brunette struggling.

"I'm fine," Spencer shot back.

"You're obviously not, let me just do this," Ali replied as she woke the sleeping toddler, "Nap time is over Marion it's time to see your mommy."

Alison handed the toddler over to Spencer as she cuddled her child, Alison stood there awkwardly unsure of what to do.

"Ali," Emily spoke out, "Why did you decide to come today?"

"To drop of Marion like I said," Alison replied.

"I know, but like. How come you haven't visited us before. We have been here for 2 weeks," Emily stated slightly hurt.

"I didn't feel ready," Alison responded.

"Why didn't you feel ready to see us?"

"Because I blame myself for what happened to you guys," Alison burst out forcing the room into silence, "If I just stopped A in the beginning, stopped it all before any of you were forced to be involved. Maybe if I just stayed gone then none of this would have happened. You would all be fine and happy instead of… this."

The room fell silent, Aria tried to read what was happening as Hanna quickly signed to her the basics of it.

"We never blamed you for any of this," Emily spoke out determinably.

"Well…" Spencer muttered under her breath to quiet to be heard.

"We are safe, we are home, we are alive," Emily half shouted, "Don't you dare blame yourself for anything that we have been through. It is not your fault.

"Mrs Marin," one of the doctors interrupted Emily's passionate speech, "Can we take you up now for your tests?"

"Yeah," Hanna replied unconfidently, "Emily?"

"I'm coming with you remember," Emily spoke slightly calmer than before, turning back to Alison she spoke softly, "Don't be a stranger, I'm sorry I have to go but if we don't get back before you leave, maybe come around again tomorrow?"

"I'll send you a text or something," Ali retorted.

"We don't have a phone," Emily responded, "If anything happens which means I'm not here I'll get my mom to give you a ring."

Emily and Hanna both left the room as Hanna was escorted to have her scans and a check over by an experienced doctor.

* * *

"I don't need you to do this," Spencer spoke to Toby. The two were getting in a car with their toddler to head out of town. Mona was strapped in her seat in the back, positioned behind Toby's seat so Spencer could see her better.

"You keep saying how you need to do this," Toby uttered.

"Yeah, I need to do this. You didn't have to take me," Spencer pointed out.

"Mrs Vanderwaal moved out of Rosewood, you can't drive and I'm not letting you out of my sight when I don't know you're safe," Toby replied firmly, "Who else was going to take you."

"I suppose," Spencer quietly agreed, "Does she know we are coming? Did you tell her?"

"I told her I was coming," Toby answered, "to go over some of the court information."

"I need to keep my promise," Spencer quietly said, "I need to tell her about Mona."

"Which Mona?" Toby questioned.

"Both," Spencer replied, "And while we are on that subject, we need to decide on my baby's name. Her birth name is Mona."

"But she has been called Marion all her life," Toby argued, "We are going to confuse her if we change it now."

"Well, we need to decide," Spencer argued, "And her last name. What is her last name?"

"How about Mona as a middle name?" Toby suggested.

"Counter suggestion," Spencer projected, "Mona is her first name, Marion can be her middle name. And for her last name."

"Ok Mona first name, Marion middle, but I've been thinking about her last name a lot," Toby spoke as he paused, "I want her to have my last name."

"What," Spencer seemed almost angry.

"And I want you to take my last name to," Toby spoke, "I didn't want to do this now but I've waited long enough."

"Toby what are you saying?" Spencer asked, as Toby slowed down and parked his car on the side of the road.

Turning his head to face

"Spencer Jill Hastings. Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife," Toby proposed.

Spencer looked over at the blue-eyed officer with tears forming in her eyes, "Yes."

"Hang on," Toby said as he leaned over to Spencer side and opened up the glove box and reached in for a box, "This was my mothers, but now it's yours."

Toby opened the box to reveal his mother's engagement ring.

"It's beautiful Toby," Spencer smiled as the love of her life put it on her finger.

"Are you sure you still want to visit Mrs Vanderwaal today?"

"Yes," Spencer decided, "I need to complete my promise I made over 2 years ago."

Spencer and Toby carried on driving down the road, hours passed until they pulled up on Mrs Vanderwaal new driveway. As they did so Mrs Vanderwaal excited her house and greeted the pair tearfully, she wasn't expecting the Hasting to be there.

Inviting them inside they all sat in the living room, with Mona staying on Toby's lap so Spencer would have permission to break down while saying what she needed to say.

"I would like you to introduce you to my daughter," Spencer started by saying, "Her name is Mona."

"You named her after," Mrs Vanderwaal spoke.

"Yes, I was there when she died. She died trying to protect me," Spencer continued.

Toby listened carefully, this was the first time that he had heard the story himself.

"She did?" Mrs Vanderwaal started to cry at the memory of her daughter, "She didn't die when the police thought?"

"No," Spencer answered, "She died with me, I tried to save her but the bleeding was too much. Her heart stopped and CPR wasn't working. I tried, I tried so hard to save her but I couldn't. I stayed with her until the end, she just wanted you to know how much she loved you."

Mrs Vanderwaal was trying to control her emotions as she held Spencer's hand in her own, "Thank you, thank you for being there with her."

"I named my daughter after her in the hope that one day we would get out, and when we did your Mona would finally be able to be free," Spencer sobbed.

"Come here,"Mrs Vanderwaal said as she embraced Spencer in a hug, "Thank you."

* * *

The court case against the A team had been short, as the police had told them all the evidence they needed was there. The CCTV footage of the dollhouse over the past 2 years had to be watched. It delayed the trial date but the team hadn't been let out on bail before. The girls were not forced to testify in front of the court. Hanna barely spoke to other people outside of her friends and the idea of speaking had sent the whole group in a panic.

The girls felt like they were not ready for all the information to be told, all the horrors that had happened to be free for anyone to hear.

Wren had been caught trying to get a plane to Germany, the accusations against him from Melissa had been removed after more evidence had come forward from Wren himself. Information collected about how Melissa had forced him to join, how she was the head of the team, how her money had funded the whole project.

After all that had happened Melissa was looking at life in prison without parole, Spencer hated that she felt nothing more for her sister but after she had taken away her baby and done what she had done the hatred she had felt for the A team mainly focussed on her.

All the items from the dollhouse had been retrieved and put into evidence, the books, jigsaw puzzle, the photo album Emily had received from her mom for one of her birthdays as well as her stuffed turtle plush toy. The broken furniture, the collection of different weapons and handcuffs, newspaper articles about the girls and worn out clothes filled up the evidence room.

The stuffed turtle and photo album had been the only item that had been requested to be returned to the girls, the rest of the items seemed too painful to be seen. To many bad memories were attached to them.

The girls sat separately in another room in the courthouse with Alison, Caleb, and Toby as the Judge made the final judgment on the Dollhouse case. Their friends and loved ones had testified on what they had known, but for the final statement, they had joined the girls for the emotional support they needed.

The group looked tensely at the TV screen that had been set up, giving them a live stream of the court. An interpreter stood next to it signing so Aria could understand what was happening to. The Judge hushed the crowd as he gave his final verdict.

"For the crimes known about today of first-degree murder, abduction, blackmail…." The judge continued to say the listed crimes, "I charge you Melissa Hastings for life in prison without the possibility of parole."

The group gasped, Spencer felt the sudden pain that her parents must have been feeling. Knowing that her sister would spend the rest of her life in prison for crimes against her.

"Wren Kingston, for the crimes of aiding and abetting, abduction…" the judge continued, "I sentence you to life in prison with the chance of parole."

Whispers in the court picked up as some thought that the man was getting off far too easily for their crimes.

"And Jenna Marshal for the crimes of aiding and abetting, abduction…." the judge spoke finishing the list of crimes, "I sentence you to life in prison with the chance of parole."

"It's over," Aria whispered

What do we do now?" Emily asked as Alison squeezed her hand.

"Anything we want to do," Spencer replied, "Anything at all."


End file.
